To group or not to group?

This Sunday, I took part in an online debate. The topic of the debate was an intriguing one- why do people segregate themselves from each other and form groups? Are these groups really necessary? Or can we all just merge together to form one big, single group? I guess what the debate coordinator wanted to convey was that these groups- different religions, different nationalities, different ethnicities, all these do more harm than good. And he raises a valid point. Wars between these groups have been occurring since time immaterial. All these groups strive to establish their superiority over others; they all try to subjugate one another. Civil wars, territorial wars, & religious wars have hampered the advancement of human civilization time & time again.

Now, while I agree with him that these groups have waged wars to prove their supremacy; but his proposal that the very notion of these groups should be scrapped seems ludicrous! These groups characterize an individual; these are an integrated part of the one’s personality. If there are no groups, the very idea of individuality is lost! How would you distinguish between two people without splitting them into groups of some sort? And although the coordinator was right (to a point) in saying that these groups don’t define a person- that we don’t need to feel bound to our family name, our religion, or our nationality- but how can we have an identity without having something to identify ourselves with? It is more practical to suggest that these groups should try to respect each other and live in harmony than to suggest the idea that they amalgamate to form one group! While we can hope that someday Muslims and Hindus might come to accept each other, that all the past differences might be forgiven and forgotten; we just can’t hope for a scenario where Hindus & Muslims will just unite to form and big and reasonably amicable family! Not only does this seem absurd, this is not a setting that promotes freedom of expression.

If we have a great big group where everybody is similar, what am I to do if I want to be different? That is how new religions sprung up in the first place- people were not satisfied with what the older religions were professing. A new train of thought was adopted. Right or wrong doesn’t matter; some people just think a little differently than others! This is how cultures diversify; how new traditions, new ethics come into the picture. This would’ve been seriously difficult had we been part of a big single group.

Consider this argument as well. If I am a writer and want to grow as a writer, am I not better suited to an environment where my associates are writers too? So in short, is not beneficial for me to form a “group” with like-minded people? Or in fact, won’t this group be formed without me even meaning to? This is advantageous to my interests and is not detrimental to anybody, so groups help us to grow as people!

Taking the case of Palestine and Israel, as we discussed in the debate, we can see peace talks happening between the two countries. But then again, these peace talks aim to cease the mutual hatred between the two countries, not to try and integrate the two countries! Maybe sometime in future this hatred would dissipate completely, but Israel and Palestine are two very different countries with different culture, so we just can’t expect them to unite.

So yeah, though this debate was left unfinished (dinner calls!), what I deduced from this article was that I am not the only one who believes that these factions are an essential part of our life. And that we should strive to achieve harmony and equality between these groups, not to try and merge these very dissimilar people! And kudos to the coordinator, he single handedly took on all of us!