- Joined
- Aug 26, 2018
It's more common than you think. "Othering" the enemy is one of the first things that happens in wartime.
Othering definitely has its place. It enabled to Simo Häyhä to kill strategically significant numbers of Red Army vermin and avoid PTSD. If he didn't practice othering he would have been less successful and more traumatized. And it's fair to assume the Red Army vermin othered their enemies given the way they behaved. If it's a war and your enemies are going to Other you, and they will, it would put you at a disadvantage if you didn't Other them right back. If any grievance studies types complain about it it's because they're Othering you. Other them right back too!
https://www.sabaton.net/discography/coat-of-arms/white-death/
Simo Häyhä, nicknamed “White Death” by the Red Army, was an extremely skilled Finnish marksman. He’s reported as having killed 505 men, the highest record number of confirmed sniper kills in any major war. On the 6th of March 1940, Häyhä was shot in the jaw with an exploding bullet, he woke up on the 13th of March, the day peace was declared. He had to go through 26 surgeries and a new jaw was crafted from a piece of bone taken from his hip. Here are some quotes : “I didn’t feel anything towards the enemy. I just fired and loaded and continued as long as there were enemies” “I just shot every time I saw an enemy. I didn’t care if he was a commander or not.” “I’m a lucky man, I never had dreams about the war. I’ve always slept well, during the war too.” “I did what I was told to as well as I could.” When asked how he became such a good shooter, he answered: “Practice.” (Text credits: Gregory Sandoz)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s43yLMgXXOU