Debunking Monoliths

Over the weekend, I was reminded of something that is common to many countries, only we rarely stop to notice. It’s the tendency of the media, and many members of society, to write about and refer to other ethnic groups or other countries as though they are some monolithic thing, rather than a collection of individuals of differing ideas, opinions and interests.

This came into focus while my wife and I were talking with one of her relatives in Denmark, who made a remark about the additional troops that President Bush wants to send to Iraq. All three of us are basically of the same mind about the President’s plan. If you knew all of us, that would be no surprise. But what was interesting to me was how the Danish media had reported the story the morning after Bush’s speech.

First, you have to know that the President’s speech occured at about 3 a.m. Danish time, so the reports coming in to the papers were pretty early on — especially the stories published in the morning papers. Still, what the reports didn’t include was any information about what the American public thinks of the President’s plan. I’m guessing that at least some of the major publications — Politiken, Jyllands Posten and Ekstra Bladet — may have followed up with a story about that by now, but the initial reports made it appear that the entire country was behind President Bush with regards to his plan.

Before I go on, don’t get me wrong: I’m not criticizing Denmark or the Danes (if I had to live anywhere else in the world, I would choose Denmark in a heartbeat). I’m offering an observation about how the Danish media covered the story. It’s really not all that surprising when you consider that coverage in the American media (or any other country’s media) can often paint an incomplete picture for events overseas.

Many people like to believe that the news coverage they see is complete and accurate, but it is seldom so. We are informed by the information we receive. So if what we hear is that the Xes are doing this or that, we might well think that all Xes agree or support those actions. I have a hunch that even in the most totalitarian states, if you could find people who would talk honestly (not bloody likely, but if you could), you would find that not everyone agrees with everything the authorities do.

It’s important to remember (as TBV pointed out some time ago) that there’s no grand “French conspiracy” in how the Landis case has unfolded. To go further, not all French are anti-American, just as not all Americans are anti-French. Not all Americans support the administration’s policy (or the policy of any of their predecessors, for that matter), even though that policy often becomes the face of America to people in other places.

Just as not all Muslims are jihadists bent on the destruction of the West (the vast majority aren’t), not all Palestinians are suicide bombers (ditto), and not all Israelis support the way their government treats the Palestinians (haven’t checked the opinion polls lately to see who’s in the majority on this one), if you pick a group of people — any group — you’ll find that they are not all alike.

We are all individuals who may share some common interests and ideas, or may not. Whether we agree or disagree on specific matters, I believe that one of the fundamental messages of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. — who we honor today — was tolerance for others. Acceptance. Learning to live together in peace.

As far as the Landis story goes, I can’t find any polls or statistics to give exact numbers about what percentage of people in America or France think he’s innocent or guilty. But I think it’s fair to say that there may be some people in France who think Floyd Landis is innocent (or that Lance Armstrong won seven Tours cleanly), just as there are Americans who believe that he’s a stone-cold guilty cheat (ditto Armstrong).

So as TBV observed at the beginning of December, it’s important to separate the actions of individuals and institutions from the overall monolithic “them.” Although it is all too easy to say “the French did this” or “the English did this” or “the Americans did that,” such statements are gross generalizations that can lead to xenophobia.

It’s too easy to fall into the trap of stereotyping ethnic groups or countries and lump all who fall into a particular category together into some all-encompassing thing. It’s important to remember that such stereotypes — even though there may be specific individuals who illustrate them — are never true of the group as a whole.