Us vs. Them

Society has a long history of us vs. thems. It's hard to get any decent-sized war going without one. Sometimes the us vs. them is a racial distinction (blacks vs. whites), sometimes it's social (think Obama's devout supporters vs. Palin's devout supporters) and sometimes it's purely geographical (Yankees fans vs. Red Sox fans). Demonizing a foil is among our most important coping mechanisms. But the creation of these foils can exacerbate the worst of human tendencies.

When times get tough, real tough, humans have a tendency to take the demonization of their foils to a whole new level. It's no coincidence that fascism sprung out of the 1930s. Germany from 1914-1933 was a miserable place. So the Germans bound together and made the world a miserable place for everyone else for the next twelve years. But they didn't come out of nowhere. People are much less inclined to goose step and go to war when they're getting three squares a day.

What I'm saying is, all this Main Street vs. Wall Street talk may seem harmless and straw-man-esque, but it could lead to something ugly. When the President's press secretary makes a blanket comment impugning the integrity of all derivatives traders, it makes me squeamish. It's the oldest political ploy around, and he certainly didn't mean much by it. But it's a big, fat us v. them. And while there's not enough derivatives traders to round up to slake the public's desire for blood, it's a bad habit to develop. Wall Street vs. Main Street's a dangerous fiction, for all sorts of reason. If the Dow goes to 2,000, unemployment's going to be 20%, and Main Street's going to pick up some pitch forks. We all need to be careful with our caricatures, because lots of folks are hurting right now, feeling mind-busting levels of stress and fear. Let's not fan these flames any more than necessary, because if you look back it history, it's pretty clear that straw men are the easiest people to burn.