are you my inferior?
"In America everybody is of the opinion that he has no social superiors, since all men are equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors."
Bertrand Russell
A friend shared this link on Facebook this week and it has been niggling at the back of my mind ever since.
The map color codes by income. The more green your neighborhood the larger the average household income. The more Red the smaller the household income. When I put in my zip code I found myself in a solid Green area. But as I live close to the Delmar Divide I am relatively close to a solid Red area.
Green? Red? What lies between that divides so effectively?
Being from a lower working class, blue collar family in Northern Ireland I'm well aware of what it feels like to live under the Red god's glare. And now being a professional in an American city I know what it is to live under the Green god's glare.
In ancient cultures the green eyed god was about comparison that leads to jealousy, that leads to wholly inappropriate behavior to be superior than another. The red god was about conflict, creating a rational to war with another so that one is superior to another.
In poorer neighborhoods that are colored red you find physical conflict, in richer neighborhoods that are colored green you tend to find jealous comparison. I realize that what I just said was incredibly simplistic and that in the poorest place jealousy raises its ugly head as does violence raise its head in the most well manicured of green neighborhoods. But the color coding within our society tends to major in one or other of these divisive gods. When I see my neighbor as someone to compete against either physically or financially then I've created a wall between us. I feel impoverished when I see them succeed and soar up the social ladder.
But when I see my neighbor as a fellow human being of intrinsic value I feel impoverished when I see them fail and fall down the social ladder.
I am neither green nor red. I'm merely human with more resources today than I had in the past. My success should be to society's benefit but too often it merely is a way to check on how well I am doing in the Human Games of Greed.
Do you have inferiors because someone color coded your neighborhood?
In ancient cultures the green eyed god was about comparison that leads to jealousy, that leads to wholly inappropriate behavior to be superior than another. The red god was about conflict, creating a rational to war with another so that one is superior to another.
In poorer neighborhoods that are colored red you find physical conflict, in richer neighborhoods that are colored green you tend to find jealous comparison. I realize that what I just said was incredibly simplistic and that in the poorest place jealousy raises its ugly head as does violence raise its head in the most well manicured of green neighborhoods. But the color coding within our society tends to major in one or other of these divisive gods. When I see my neighbor as someone to compete against either physically or financially then I've created a wall between us. I feel impoverished when I see them succeed and soar up the social ladder.
But when I see my neighbor as a fellow human being of intrinsic value I feel impoverished when I see them fail and fall down the social ladder.
I am neither green nor red. I'm merely human with more resources today than I had in the past. My success should be to society's benefit but too often it merely is a way to check on how well I am doing in the Human Games of Greed.
Do you have inferiors because someone color coded your neighborhood?
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