Why ‘Us vs. Them’ Mentality Persists in a World That Should Know Better
And how we can find a way to move past it
Growing up in post-Soviet Poland, I was drenched in the ‘us vs. them’ mentality.
Although the Iron Curtain — the ideological barrier that divided the Soviet sphere from the West — fell shortly before I was born, the attitudes it had instilled didn’t vanish overnight. My family, like many others across the former Soviet bloc, remained sceptical of the West, viewing it with a mix of distrust, resentment and jealousy.
After all, while we struggled with economic instability and social inequality, the West was raising one gleaming skyscraper after another and enjoying an era of (relative) prosperity. When I moved abroad, this divide only felt more tangible. I certainly wasn’t part of ‘Thems.’
It’s not exactly surprising that this mentality was so pervasive when the flow of information, people, and goods was heavily restricted during Soviet times or that it lingered even after those barriers were dismantled. What is perhaps surprising, though, is why it endures even in an increasingly interconnected and globally aware world.
We know more about one another than ever before, and yet we still insist on drawing lines between Us and Them, in-group and out-group…
