Thursday, December 01, 2005
You Will Be Assimilated
Today is Blog Against Racism Day, so I'm going to talk about one of the most detestable stereotypes, one that is used often in the context of racism, but is given hearty exercise by practitioners of any "-ism": the Hive Mind Theory.
In science fiction, a "hive mind" makes for an interesting look at how an alien species thinks. In a hive mind, all members of a species share the same basic thoughts. While there may be a few individual thoughts, every participant basically thinks the same way. There are a few "organic" hive minds throughout science fiction, but more commonly, the hive mind appears among robotic species, such as the Borg or the Cylons.
Now, here's the thing. A hive mind is an interesting concept for a sci-fi series. But humans do not have a hive mind. There is no group that shares the vast majority of its thoughts and beliefs with any other member of its group. And the sad part is, a lot of people think they do. A lot of people think that all blacks are potential criminals, all Arabs are potential terrorists, all women are unable to defend themselves, and all gay men are sex maniacs.
The worst thing is seeing someone who's actually been accused of having a hive mind accusing another group of the same. I rarely go into the Comments section at Towleroad whenever a topic comes up on Arabs or Muslims, because I know that there will be a few trolls who argue that all Muslims hate gays or all Arabs are violent and subhuman. Keep in mind that most of the commentators at Towleroad are gay men, who have been accused over the years of having some overreaching agenda to corrupt America's youth. The fact that they've been the target of the hive mind smear tactic and can't even realize that they're using it is sad, to say the least.
No one thinks exactly the same as someone else. There is no "they" when it comes to a group; there are "mosts", there are "somes", but there are no "alls." And, most importantly of all, none of our fellow humans are aliens. So let's leave the hive mind for the science fiction writers, shall we?
In science fiction, a "hive mind" makes for an interesting look at how an alien species thinks. In a hive mind, all members of a species share the same basic thoughts. While there may be a few individual thoughts, every participant basically thinks the same way. There are a few "organic" hive minds throughout science fiction, but more commonly, the hive mind appears among robotic species, such as the Borg or the Cylons.
Now, here's the thing. A hive mind is an interesting concept for a sci-fi series. But humans do not have a hive mind. There is no group that shares the vast majority of its thoughts and beliefs with any other member of its group. And the sad part is, a lot of people think they do. A lot of people think that all blacks are potential criminals, all Arabs are potential terrorists, all women are unable to defend themselves, and all gay men are sex maniacs.
The worst thing is seeing someone who's actually been accused of having a hive mind accusing another group of the same. I rarely go into the Comments section at Towleroad whenever a topic comes up on Arabs or Muslims, because I know that there will be a few trolls who argue that all Muslims hate gays or all Arabs are violent and subhuman. Keep in mind that most of the commentators at Towleroad are gay men, who have been accused over the years of having some overreaching agenda to corrupt America's youth. The fact that they've been the target of the hive mind smear tactic and can't even realize that they're using it is sad, to say the least.
No one thinks exactly the same as someone else. There is no "they" when it comes to a group; there are "mosts", there are "somes", but there are no "alls." And, most importantly of all, none of our fellow humans are aliens. So let's leave the hive mind for the science fiction writers, shall we?
