There Will be Universal Peace on Earth When Martians Attack Us.

Israelis and Hamas are engaged in yet another round of fighting in the Middle East. The only thing that is as predictable as the recurrence of conflict in the region is the vacuous comments that follow such flare-ups, from a wide range of pundits, experts, and diplomats. Included here are such luminary points as "both parties must show restraint," "the United Nations condemns the use of violence from both parties," "both sides must sit down at the negotiating table to resume talks," "nothing was ever solved via war," and my Lennonesque favorite "we must give peace a chance." Now that's what I call incisive, trenchant, and profound thinking. I am feeling inspired by the drumbeats of peace...time to dust off my vinyl 45 single Imagine by John Lennon. In the immortal words of Rodney King, "Why can't we all just get along?" Well, Mr. King, the reason lies in our inability to avoid the traps of coalitional thinking (i.e., viewing the world using the "us versus them" lens).

Many of the most famous social psychology experiments sought to explore intergroup dynamics (e.g., the work by Muzafer Sherif and Henri Tajfel). Typically, in such experiments, participants are provided a random cue of affiliation (e.g., they are placed in the red versus blue groups), and subsequently their behaviors are monitored. Incredibly, people have an uncanny ability to assort along these nonsensical cues and in so doing they eradicate other more "meaningful" cues of affiliation. For example, the "blue" participants band together to chat (same for the "red" group) even though each of the two camps consists of mixed-sex groups. In other words, one's biological sex is rendered irrelevant in this case via the introduction of a useless tag of belongingness (blue versus red stickers).

Now let's return to the Middle East and more generally to war. By its very nature, war involves a natural dichotomy namely the splitting of the world into compatriots and enemies. This coalitional trap is exacerbated when the strife involves religion. Religious narratives are particularly adept at playing the coalitional trump card: kafirs versus muslims, believers versus non-believers, Jews versus gentiles, etc. The complexities of social life are indeed simple when viewed through the "us versus them" prism of religion. The Bush Administration was surprised that many Iraqis seemed to prefer to support their brutal "brothers" (be it Saddam Hussein, insurgent death squads, or Al-Sadr's brigade) rather than the American soldiers who were effectively attempting to liberate them from the throes of fundamentalism. In the deeply tribal world of the Middle East, people genuinely prefer to be beaten by the hands of their ingroup brothers and cousins than to be caressed by the "filthy hands" of the infidels. It's that simple.

Some ideologies, be it religious and/or political ones, are rooted in an expansionist ethos. It is insufficient that I hold a particular set of beliefs. I must also convert all others to the same core beliefs. Freedom of choice, freedom of thought, freedom of conscience, and freedom of speech are unwelcome. Hence, when one mixes innately ingrained coalitional thinking with a deeply intolerant and expansionist ideology, one gets never-ending cycles of war in the Middle East.

If tomorrow we were to be attacked by Martians, the affiliational cue will no longer be Jew versus Muslim, blue versus red, believer versus atheist, rather it will be Homo sapiens versus Martians. Under such a scenario, I would expect all of humanity to band together. Short of this possibility, here is a prediction for you: Violence will be present in the Middle East for many generations to come albeit I hope that I am wrong. I regret to inform you that Barack Obama will not be bringing peace on earth. Please don't misunderstand my position: I like Barack Obama very much. I simply find the Messianic fervor surrounding his audacity of hope mantra somewhat silly and naïve.

Source for Image:
http://www.unescap.org/unis/common/images/press/peace.jpg