Othering or Alterity

The "other" is a dark and scary term. It is a term that society thrives on and destroys with. I have felt it personally as well as any other minority or disadvantaged person has. It seems as though America cannot survive without an "other."

America has always, and will always have an "other." At the moment, the most prevalent other is the Queer Community. Before that it was the Black Community and before that it was Women. These are by no means the only "others" throughout time, but definitely the most controversial. In order to create an argument against equality, one must define that group as the "other" so as not to feel anything for that group. "Othering" therefore allows for emotional detachment. America or humanity in general, therefore thrives on creating "others" to instill a hierarchical society.

On the other side, is the identity in which one defines him/herself as the "other?" These are identities that can be considered anti-identities; identities defined by what one is not. An example is Atheism. This is an identity that means: "disbelief in the existence of a supreme being or beings." In other words it means, "not-religious." So "othering" is not solely from an outside perspective. They, themselves have the feeling of alterity.

Now is the question of technology. We "other" technology and machines as something different than ourselves because they are controlled and stuck in a rhythm without escape. We are different correct? Let us think about it for a moment. As I've stated in a previous post about reality, we like to "escape" reality. What I also talked about was the fact that everything is reality. There is no escaping it. Doesn't this also mean there is no escaping the rhythm of our lives? Are we not controlled by social constructs and a hierarchy? We have been programmed socially to think and act certain ways. The fact that we create "others" prove this. We don't like rogue machines. Everyone must follow the rules and the laws of our mechanics. We create the "other" in order to maintain routines and control. This makes us machines. Even escaping the social aspect, we cannot escape our biological aspects. We must breathe, eat, sleep and go to the bathroom. We are as vulnerable as machines. Unplug a machine and it turns off. Go a while without breathing and you die. Although machines can be plugged back in, so I guess we're weak machines.