This essay is an English translation of a previous version that is in evaluation for publication in Spanish. It is important to warn readers that quotes from English sources have been subjected to two modifications, first in their translation from the original English into Spanish, and then in their re-translation back to English. The content has not changed, but the wording may different.The footnotes appear at the end after the bibliography.
DISSIDENCE AND CONFORMITY:
PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENA AND CULTURES
Karen Cronick and Raúl Andrés
Rojas
Summary
In this essay, we analyze the relationship between the explanations that people use to understand their social and affective world, the reasons they may have to believe them, and the structures of association and power that influence these expressions. The cultural mechanisms that exist to generate these explanations are reviewed, together with their conditions of veracity. Their use in self-managed political systems and totalitarian systems are considered in terms of the multiple roles that empathy, tolerance, intolerance and ideological repression have in these systems. The role of dissidence in these systems is also considered.
.
Keywords: beliefs, truthfulness, empathy, dissidence
"They're eating the dogs, the people that came
in,
they're eating the cats [....]
They're eating the pets of the people that live there,
and this is what's happening in our country,
and it's a shame" [1]
(Donald
Trump, cited by Arkin and Ingram., 2024).
INTRODUCTION
To
develop this theme, we have to ask several secondary questions. It is important
to recognize the various cultural mechanisms that exist that generate these
explanations. We need to examine their degrees of veracity. It is necessary to
discriminate between self-managed and totalitarian systems, and the multiple
roles that empathy, tolerance, intolerance and ideological repression have in
these systems. In addition, we need to inquire about the reasons for supporting
authoritarian leaders and systems. It is important to examine how certain
authoritarian leaders generate and inculcate false and exclusionary beliefs
among their followers in order to stay in power, and the role of dissent in
these systems. It is also necessary to consider the role of possible dissidents
in changing these socio-cultural explanations. In the following pages we will
review the positions of several authors on these issues.
People live immersed in their culture. They often join
identity groups with other individuals who share their beliefs. These groups are
concentrations of people who share traits, values, or interests.
On the one hand, groups can be conceived as a
component of the concept of "social capital". Raúl Rojas (2025)
offers this definition:
[…] a measurable entity, related
to people, groups, organizations, communities, countries and regions, [...
which includes] the creation of human capital (skills, knowledge and
experience), more efficient democratic institutions, the reduction of crime,
access to better, more profitable jobs and higher quality education, as well as
the eradication of poverty, etc. (p. 30).
For Rojas, social capital includes community and
neighborhood relationships that can influence culture and its institutions. It
can produce new responses and social propositions. Rojas studied groups that
have practical purposes such as contributing to local health, education, and
resources such as transportation, access to food, and aspects related to
employment and work. They are empowering groups. He divided them into three
categories that he called "spheres": a) community spheres, b) associative
spheres and c) State spheres.
Identity groups, on the other hand, are made up of
people who share certain ideas, dogmas, ideologies or nationalities. An
identity group is formed when individuals recognize themselves as similar to
each other because they share cultural, social, psychological, or physical
aspects. These groups can be formal or informal.
In general, the aspects that motivate the formation of
identity groups are public because their members tend to make pronouncements in
this regard. This is the basis of religions and political parties. But beliefs
can also be based on the rejection of other beliefs, as is the case of the Flat
Earth Society that resists science as such.
Sometimes the traits that unite people are physical, and not modifiable,
as in the case of racial categories. An example of these groups is the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Other times traits may be based on
nationalities. There are also groups based on the sexual orientation of their
members, such as LGBTQ+ groups that focus on the defense of the rights of
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people among other orientations.
And there are many more groups. They are "identitarian"[2]
because people consider that they define an essential part of themselves. They
say: "I am a Muslim", "I am Aztec", "I am Irish",
"I am a conservative".
Each type of group, in addition to bringing together
people with similar characteristics, exists in interaction with others and with
society in general. They may try to help their members confront rejection
issues, or on the other hand they may encourage the rejection of others, sometimes
violently, when the outsiders do not share their characteristics, as in the
case of the Ku Klux Klan[3].
The recognition of groups as promoters of identities
and convictions in general is important to begin our exploration of beliefs,
because of their role in the elaboration, promotion and maintenance of these
dogmas, opinions and convictions. People normally live in close relationship
with others, and often their beliefs are formed and maintained because of this
relationship. As Raplph Waldo Emerson
observed:
The Spartan, who embodies his
religion in his country, dies for his majesty without question. The Turk, who
believes that his doom is written on the iron blade the moment he entered the
world, throws himself upon the enemy’s saber with unconditional will. The Turk,
the Arab, the Persian, accept this predestined fate. (Emerson, 2021, chapter
"Destiny").
THE ESSAY: METHOD[4]
The analytical essay is a theoretical, exploratory and
non-experimental method that does not intend to verify any hypothesis. Rather,
it carries out an in-depth examination related to a topic on which there is
already a body of previous analysis. The goal is to present an argument backed
by evidence that other writers have crafted. Essays require authors to break
down complex ideas, promoting a factual examination of the evidence. Its
objective is to evaluate and compare the concepts and research results on the
subject and to carry out a review of the specialized literature, to then
propose new interpretations.
The authors of this essay recognize from the beginning
their adherence to scientific methodology in general, especially in their
acceptance of the analytical stance of investigative doubt. As we pointed out above, it is important to
distinguish between "knowledge" (even if it is still in the process
of development) and pseudoscience. Science is the philosophical inquiry that is
based on doubt. The need for methodological clarity is the most reliable way to
generate knowledge. One of the basic differences between science and
pseudoscience is the intentionality of the people who elaborate them. We will
talk about the role of conscious intention in adherence to cultural systems and
trends in the production of knowledge.
In the following pages we will assess the nature of
false beliefs, the effect of these beliefs on the people who accept them, their
role in socio-political cohesion and the ability of people to question them and
become dissidents within their groups.
There is something in psychology called the sleeper
effect. It describes how a message can have a delayed impact on the receiver.
This effect can be distinguished from persuasion, where the influence is
immediate. Studies on this phenomenon have yielded ambiguous results (Kumkale
& Albarracín, 2004; Cook & Flay, 1978), however, it is curious that
there is no term to refer to those who are potentially vulnerable to rumors and
false messages. In this essay we can call them "sleepers".
Key features of the sleeper effect include forgetting
the original source of the message and decoupling credibility from the source,
which can lead to people becoming more susceptible over time. This phenomenon
has been widely studied in the psychology of communication and has significant
implications in advertising and politics. (Capon & Hulbert, 1973; Cook
& Flay, 1978).
A FIRST APPROACH TO EXPLANATIONS AND BELIEFS
The explanations and their veracity
There are several ways that false beliefs become
accepted. We can mention: a) pseudoscience, b) technology and truth, c)
"conspiracies", d) "rumors" that migrate among group
members, e) false explanations that people in positions of power intentionally
generate to strengthen their dominance, f) knowledge that has not been
confirmed -but that may be true- such as that which supports the practices of tribal
healers, g) the lack of access to
education that is associated with economic power, and h) the individual's
ability to judge the veracity of explanations and his or her competence to
change their beliefs. We will develop these topics below.
a) Science
and pseudoscience
Even science is vulnerable to the generation of
untruthful explanations. It is clear that scientists can have cultural biases.
These can manifest themselves in a variety of ways, from the lack of
credibility of information sources to the biased choice of population samples
and methods of analysis.
Famous examples of ideologically twisted research
include that of Soviet geneticist Trofim Lysenko, or any scientist who uses
methods of analysis that are not open to falsifiability in Poperian terms[5]. Pseudoscientific beliefs include astrology,
numerology, eugenics, the belief in a flat world, and the denial of evidence of
climate change and the benefits of medical vaccines, among others. For this
reason, we will analyze adherence to pseudoscientific ideas as a psychosocial
phenomenon that has a collective and widespread impact, and that requires
critical reflection.
b) Technology
and truth
Alejandro Termini (2026) regards truth as irrelevant
in a world of technological information and control where artificial
intelligence rules. He notes that "Alexander Karp, CEO of Palantir, is the
military enforcer [who] champions [the idea that] Silicon Valley and the
Pentagon should merge into a 'Tech Republic' where domestic dissent is treated
as a national threat." This type of affirmation is not new, but his
definition of dissent is, because it contains new ways of looking at the
creation of opinion and belief.
Termine says:
Their common intellectual
framework is the so-called neo-reactionary movement (NRx) or Dark
Enlightenment, formulated in the early 2010s by Nick Land and Curtis Yarvin.
His theses: democracy is decadent; states should be run like corporations, with
shareholders rather than citizens; "Unproductive" populations can be "recycled."
This is the ideological matrix of those who control the planet's digital
infrastructure.
We can respond to the idea of treating the electorate
as a collection of shareholders. Voting rights in public companies are
restricted to their own investors, and, although in some corporations they can
vote to elect the members of their boards of directors, and some company
policies, they have a voting capacity that is proportional to the amount of
their investments. This gives a great advantage to those who have larger interests.
In addition, their personal benefits are directly tied to the company's
profits, and this, in turn, is related to their political reach. It is a very
different system from national scenarios where all the citizens are voters, and
each has only one vote per elected office. Citizen voters also have varied, and
even opposed, opinions and interests.
In addition, the emergence of artificial intelligence
technologies has changed the ways in which opinion is generated. It is a
technology that emulates the capacity for human analysis. But technologies lack
emotional and motivational aspects. It combines this analysis with other
technologies such as Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DL) or
the Large Language Model (LLM)
(Angelov et al., 2021, cited by Galindo, 2025). Galindo warns that this technology has
made it difficult to distinguish between language produced by humans and that
produced by AI-based chatbots. He says that "The version of ChatGPT
4 has been able to pass the Turin Test, demonstrating that it can behave
similarly to humans" (p. 74). This fact has two important implications.
The first is that the interlocutors will not know if they are talking to a person,
and the second is that they ignore the intentions behind the message: they may
be receiving messages that emanate from hegemonic interests whose purpose may
well be the reproduction of stereotypes and ideas whose interests represent
corporate projects.
In fact, Galindo, offers evidence that:
[…] The companies that develop
this technology have great resources and with these tools they are obtaining
greater economic and political power. The sources of information for these
tools are dominant web pages and prominent documents on the internet, which may
cause the data obtained to be inaccurate. Similarly, some of the AI platforms
do not have access to up-to-date information, for example, Copilot has
information only up to 2021, ChatGPT has access to documents published until
2022. While the only platform on which more up-to-date information can be found
is Gemini (p. 75).
Galindo also points out that the veracity of the
information generated by artificial intelligence that is obtained on the
Internet does not come from contrasted sources such as research and academic
articles. As a result, the veracity of its data is questionable.
c) The
conspiracies
Joop de Boer & Harry Aiking (2024) talk about
ideas of "conspiracy", or conspiracy theories. These can include
beliefs such as: "the cure for cancer exists, but it is hidden due to
commercial interests." These ideas can be distinguished from pseudoscience
by their paranoid content, that is, they contain – in addition to the belief
itself – a suspicion of intentional deception, and an appreciation of power as
something evil. However, this concept of power is diffuse, and does not
necessarily identify the responsible sources. The persistence of this type of
belief indicates a deep skepticism towards scientific thought in general.
Groups that propose specific beliefs – such as those regarding a flat earth,
and those that refer to the danger of vaccines – sometimes collaborate with
each other, and reinforce each other.
d) The
rumors
Another form of unverifiable information was
identified by de Boer & Aiking as hearsay. They defined it as an
unconfirmed message about somebody, something, object, or a situation, that is
passed from one person to another. The importance of rumors has been
accentuated with the use of Internet messaging mechanisms.
Boer & Aiking propose three reactions that can
occur in the face of rumors. People can use their general knowledge to refute them,
especially if they already know something about the subject. If the rumor
agrees with their previous information, they can accept it. In this context,
the listener's cognitive ability, their access to truthful information and
their motivations are important. They can accept it especially if previous
conceptions are in agreement with the new message.
Those who uncritically accept rumors can also modify
their content somewhat. Some circumstances may limit or eliminate the
possibility of reacting critically and evaluatively, such as when listeners
have confidence in the source of the information. This happens if the
information comes from a figure they trust. If it is a cult leader or
politician, the source can manipulate their messages.
e) The
intentional manipulation of explanations
"Knowledge" also has political connotations.
Fernando Nieto Moles (Libres, 2026) cites an example where historical
statements may have had political purposes. Nieto quotes a book by former
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called Grandeza, where he says:
[…] we will argue and
demonstrate […] that human sacrifices and cannibalism did not exist in
pre-Hispanic Mexico and that their invention corresponded more to fanaticism
and the perverse strategy of justifying slavery and cruelty for the sake of
greed, and the plundering of goods and wealth [...] (López, pp. 54-55, cited by
Nieto)
Nieto distances himself from this statement, saying
that it is merely an ideological maneuver to achieve some party support. He
says:
"Its purpose is not
simply to reinterpret the past, but to integrate it into a political narrative.
By presenting Mesoamerican civilizations as morally superior, austere,
supportive and fraternal, the text builds an ethical continuity between that
idealized past and the political present that López Obrador and his followers
call the Fourth Transformation.
David Pakman (Show, D. P., 2026). argues that:
What makes this dynamic so
effective is that emotional validation comes before the conclusion. Once
someone feels understood, they become more open to accepting explanations they
might otherwise reject. That does not make them irrational. It makes them
human. People are naturally more receptive to information from someone they
believe understands their experiences and frustrations.
f) Knowledge
that is still unverified
All knowledge has to be understood in terms of a)
"practices" based on clear epistemologies, or b) it can be products
of the elaboration of social identities and power. The two problems are
distinct but inseparable. Mantilla (n.d.) points out that there is also a form
of knowledge that is the product of centuries of research that cannot be
considered "science" but that is based on valid processes of informal
observation. He says, "Consider an indigenous scientist who understands
the use of medicinal plants in his community and has evidence of their efficacy
in treating certain diseases [...]."
g)
The
relationship between socio-economic levels and access to education
For Mantilla, vulnerability to non-falsifiable
knowledge is the result of the unfair distribution of access to quality
education. He developed a study on the relationship between education and
socio-economic classes in Latin America. For their part, Fernández, Pagés,
Székely, & Acevedo, (2025) demonstrate how education is a crucial element
for the training of responsible adults. They say that its impact is direct both
in relation to the production of "human capital" and in the formation
of an informed citizenry that can "exercise their human and political
rights and their ability to adapt to changing environments."
However, there have always been individuals with high
purchasing power who also accept and promote dubious knowledge. For example, there
are current personalities with economic power who advocate blatantly false
beliefs: a) Robert F. Kennedy with his statements about the effectiveness of
vaccines, b) the actor Terence Howard who invented an arithmetic system without
a basis in logic, c) the US president Donald Trump who claims that the use of
the drug Tylenol by pregnant women causes autism, d) people who deny evidence pointing to
climate change in recent years such as U.S. Senator James Inhofe, and e) and
President López Obrador (quoted above) who denies archaeological evidence of
cannibalism by some ancient indigenous populations -which we quoted
above-.
h) Individual
intentionality and beliefs
The adoption of beliefs, defensible or not, can be
conceived as the result of a personal and collective decision.
Cronick (2025 a and b) has reflected on the
responsibility and capacity that individuals have to choose and adopt their
beliefs and behaviors in a rational way. Science has elaborated certain
limitations in this regard, for example, there is no clear evidence to support
the idea that non-material forces such as the will of the individual act on the
purely physical functioning of the brain. Also, at the psychological and
sociological level, there are theoretical formulations that demonstrate other
limitations such as the influence of social groups (Festinger, 1954, Asch, 1955,
Moscovici, 1996, Milgram, 1963, among others). Skinner (1971) and the
behavioral psychologists who followed him have shown how environmental stimuli
can control the behavior and beliefs of all living things.
But, as Cronick (2026) points out:
[..] while modern science proposes deterministic
rules that govern people's behavioral and ideational changes, Caula &
Rodríguez (2025), other thinkers argue that the idea of personal agency does
not violate the laws of physics, since it comes from the emergent properties of
complex systems. Compound capacities such as personal awareness arise from the
interaction of the combination of neurons, not individual neurons. These have a
hierarchical organization that allows the creation of functional networks that,
in turn, give rise to subjective experience and cognition.
It has also been proposed that free will is an
evolutionary achievement (Alonso, Caula & Palenzuela, 2026). When a tiger
decides to abandon the hunt for prey, it does so by evaluating the alternatives
and "decides" for the option that best suits it. In the case of
humans, it is not only a matter of deciding between the viability of the
options in each case, because cultural norms affect our decisions. They are
connected to elaborate social systems that define "good and evil"
that label our choices and require complex reflections on the social viability
of certain behaviors. Evidently they are mutable and can change with cultural
transformations. An example of these changes can be seen in the historical perception
of the role of women.
Philosophy generally accepts some forms of free will,
but there is debate about their nature. Cronick (2026) cites Quiceno (2025) who
points out how the concept of "ipseity" is related to how
people elaborate and change their personal identity according to their
experiences and reflections. It is related to the reflexive recognition of the
self, and its personal responsibility. It is an existential dimension of
identity. Jean-Paul Sartre (n.d.) states in his work Being and Nothingness,
that ipseity reflects an encounter between "being in itself"
and "being for itself". People reflect on themselves as their
identity changes. With each new experience they have in life, they elaborate
their own freedom. Each moment of experiencing the self reveals a unique being
incomparable to the previous instant. Ipseity indicates the historicity
of being. Sartre says:
Human freedom precedes the
essence of man and makes it possible; The essence of the human being is
suspended in his freedom. What we call freedom, then, is indistinguishable from
the being of "human reality." Man does not existe before he is free:
there is no difference between Man's being and his "free-being" (p.
30).
In all its meanings, it is necessary to combine the
essential freedom of the human being with the restrictions that he necessarily must
confront, according to his cultural and personal resources.
But the individual is not alone (Cronick, 2025
a&b; Rojas, 2025). He is immersed in community and social networks that
offer him varied appreciations of social reality and his own sense of identity.
He is immersed in neighborhood groups of paid work, in clubs, and in religious
and educational groups. Each source has its own appreciations. Thus, the
individual is constantly comparing and choosing points of view. In addition, people
engage in conversations with others who offer new ideas.
i) Beliefs,
morality and ethics
We have referred to the phenomenon of false beliefs
that oppose science. There are others that have to do with morality, the
nature—superior or inferior—of certain human groups, nationalism, and political
ideology. Dissent in relation to them is riskier, and often places the
dissident as a danger to those who wield political power. History is replete
with figures such as Socrates, Seneca, Hypatia, Galileo Galilei, and Giordano
Bruno who have paid a high price for having questioned the beliefs of powerful people.
Self-managed and totalitarian systems
All large-scale governments and administrative systems
distinguish between different levels of authority and power. In small or tribal
systems, group decisions are often made by consensus, sometimes under the influence
of a chief or a group of elders considered to be especially gifted to decide on
collective matters.
The development of cultures, beliefs and ideologies
are related to the power structures in which people live. Power can be
conceived in several ways. It can appear as "dominance" when it comes
to the ability of an individual or group to demand obedience from other people
or groups. In such cases, these individuals "own" power as a personal
attribute. In the case of populations that "fall" under the influence
of these leaders, the conquerors and the kingdoms or countries they represent
are also said to "own" their new territories and their inhabitants.
It is "force" when it involves the ability to use physical violence
to demand this obedience.
Power can also be thought of as a governmental
attribute. When the members of a government are elected by their constituents,
power is representative. It thus becomes an authority conferred by a
population. For example, a delegate to a state assembly possesses the attribute
conferred on him by the electorate.
A judge would be a "legal actor" because his
position, functions and appointment are typified in a norm (the Constitution or
the organic laws). Therefore, legality is a matter of procedure, that is, if
the steps that the law dictates for that person to be a judge were complied
with, his authority is legal. In the case of the politician, if he is elected
by the population, his authority stems the popular vote (the consensus of the
majority). In the case of the judge, his legitimacy is not directly democratic,
but institutional.
In general, governments can be classified in terms of
their totalitarian or democratic characteristics. The property that
distinguishes these systems is the degree to which their inhabitants have influence
in the conduct of the city, the kingdom, or in modern times, the country. Few
systems are entirely totalitarian or democratic. And sometimes conquered
territories rebel against their conquerors. In the 19th and 20th centuries
there were multiple rebellions against European colonialism in the Americas,
Africa, and Asia. However, it was not often that these rebellions resulted in
systems of self-government by the recovered territories. Even in the cases of
Canada and the United States, indigenous populations were unable to participate
in the democratic governments that were established in the liberated
territories of Great Britain.
As a general rule, the self-management principles of
democracies make explicit the principles of equity; they are based on the
principle of isonomy that expresses the equality of all people before
the law. The term can be limited to the recognition of the equality only of
citizens recognized as such, which would exclude all but free men, as happened
both in ancient Athens and in the beginning of modern democracies. The term isegoria comes from the right
that the Athenians had to "have a voice", that is, to be part of the
meetings and the assembly. It refers to the right to free expression of ideas
and opinions. There is a third term, isomoiria, mentioned by Resnick
(1996) that refers to the egalitarian division of land, and which has been
interpreted as economic equality. This ideal has been rejected, even by Athenian
democracy, In modern democracies this right has manifested itself as the right
to education and health (social insurance systems). In some cases, there are
programs that offer a basic salary to people who lack their own income. In its
broadest interpretation it has been incorporated into communist rhetoric
(although it was never put into practice except by some sects such as the
Quakers.)
The role of empathy
Cronick (2026) describes empathy this way:
Empathy can have cognitive,
affective, and/or behavioral aspects. That is, empathic experiences can be
limited to the experience of knowing the thoughts and beliefs of others,
without necessarily sharing them, as when one understands and respects a
religion without personally subscribing to its contents. It can also have
affective contents, such as the feeling of knowing the other's feelings
(without necessarily assuming them) and finally, it can lead to behavioral
responses when the observer offers support to those who need it.
In the next section, we will develop the concept of
empathy as a social and individual resource, and relate it specifically to the
creation of a culture in which different ideas and identities coexist. It is a
capacity that extends in varying degrees throughout the animal kingdom, such as
the ability to understand and respond intuitively to the intentions of others.
Majorities
and dissidence
People, in their multiple associations as neighbors,
members of social and commercial groups, and ethnic and racial groups, are
grouped according to a certain norm of membership and similarity. The largest
groupings are the nations. There are basic characteristics that members
recognize as shared. In smaller groups the similarities are close, and the
larger the associations, the less obvious the resemblance becomes. However, all
large groups as states have a basic identity and in each case there are deep
ties that distinguish the Chinese, the Italians, and the Australians from each
other.
Inside these groups there may be majorities and
minorities that are formed according to characteristics that are recognizable
within the collectivities. There will always be an effort to iron out these
differences. Differences can be relatively amicable, such as between fans of
different sports teams, or unfriendly, such as between political parties. In some cases, enmity can turn the opponent
into an enemy.
The terms "enemy" and "friend"
resemble those of "villain" and "hero". Heroes always
belong to one's own group, they are the soldiers of the army of the country
with which they identify. It is a figure that "lives on the limits of
transgression that is not governed by common codes and can leap over the law
because precisely its mission is to make new laws" (Torres, 2009, cited by
Pérez-Mena 2017, p. 264). As Pérez-Mena also points out, the hero can be
"venerated by followers, who follow him in a mission that he embodies,
which is sometimes of a revolutionary and subversive nature", (p. 261),
The hero can also defend the rights and privileges of "our" side of a
conflict or an expansion project. In general, it fights for and for
"us."
The villain belongs to the "other side" and
is often vilified in images and stories. The "enemy" can be a
competitor in the professional field, a political adversary or a member of a
criminal gang. The word "enemy" conjures up images of a power
dynamic. Citizens of nations in conflict may be forced to kill each other if
they consider themselves enemies.
Within the uniformities of factions and groups, a
different voice can emerge without it becoming a hero or a villain. It is a
dissident, a person or group that disagrees with the policies, dogmas and norms
accepted by the majority. The dissident seeks to promote change or express his
disagreement. In some cases, the majority within the group, or its leadership,
may consider the dissident as an "enemy", but as a rule he is
tolerated and can become the center of new ways of seeing reality. This
phenomenon has been examined by Mosocvici (1996).
EMPATHY AND
HATRED AS MECHANISMS OF SOCIAL COHESION
In general, enemies do not talk. Sometimes they make
agreements to avoid greater aggression or establish basic collaboration, always
respecting differences and distances. When there are groups that define
themselves as enemies, members may consider attempts to form pacts or reconcile
as "treason."
The notion of betrayal does not only refer to the act
of approaching the groups’ enemies in a friendly way. A traitor can also be
someone who distances himself from the set of customs, practices or traditional
beliefs of the community to which he belongs. And yet, those who break down
these barriers and challenge them can help the group move forward in the
progressive construction of its cultural identity. These traditions include
religious rituals, festivities, ways of dressing, and artistic or musical
styles, as well as the group's own identity as a cultural entity.
So, the term enemy remains as a sign of danger,
distrust and enmity. Violence against the enemy is justified. But there are
other words that point to the misuse of violence within groups. There are other
terms such as bully.
The bully: The interest of psychologists and
sociologists in the figure of the bully is recent. In Europe, attention to the
phenomenon began only after 1970. The work of Daniel Olweus (1994) was notable
in this awareness, as was the publicity given to the suicides of some abuse victims
in Norway in 1983. Multiple school shootings after 1990 in the United States
increased the concern of professionals interested in public health (Felmlee
& Faris, 2026).
Olweus defines bullying as a situation in which
a student is repeatedly mistreated and victimized by one or more students in their
school environment (p. 1173). But the phenomenon is not limited to educational
settings; It can appear in any grouping, such as clubs, neighborhoods, police
forces, or military detachments, or even among people who do not know each
other, as in the case of racial, ethnic, or gender harassment.
Olweus adds; "It is useful to distinguish between
direct harassment/victimization—with relatively open attacks on the victim—and
indirect harassment or victimization in the form of social isolation and
intentional exclusion from a group (p. 1173). In this case, isolation can be a
form of social violence.
The
possibility of dialogue between enemies
We open our reflections in this section with an
antithesis between the concept of "enemies" and the possibility of
dialogue. In general, enemies are supposed to fight and defeat each other.
Sometimes they negotiate their differences and make agreements, but always as a
strategy to gain advantages over the opponent. It is unusual for them to enter
into deep empathic relationships. However, since ancient times there are
accounts of this type of encounter. One of the most moving stories of such an
encounter can be found in Homer's Iliad. This story can serve as an
introductory allegory to identify some of the components of cultural
identification consciousness.
In the Iliad, Homer narrates several situations of
this nature. The most profound is the account of the encounter between Priam
and Achilles. They were warriors on opposite sides in the war between the
Greeks and the Trojans. Priam was a Trojan king and hero. Achilles was a Greek
warrior. The first, Priam, was the father of Hector, whom Achilles has just
killed in a battle in front of the walls of Troy. At the moment of the
encounter between Achilles and Priam, Achilles has left Hector's corpse
unburied and without a funeral exposed as a despised spoil, after pulling it
after his horse along the beach of Troy. It was a display of baleful pride and
appalling impiety.
Pyramus, the
grieving father, receives the help of the god Hermes to secretly approach
Achilles' tent. Cronick (2020) describes the encounter in the book The Ancient
Greeks and Nos:
The meeting between the two
reveals a totally different side of this hero. Suddenly Achilles sees Priam as
a father, almost as his own. "Now, in turn, [the two] experienced the flow
of pain; and now the two tides came together; One the father and the other the
son who deplore [their own losses]. But for Achilles they are added passions.
Now he cries for his father and then for his friend. A contagious recollection
runs through the heroes; A boundless deluge began. It sustained them as heroes,
but they felt it as men" (quote is from Homer, p. 732, Note 32).
Cronick observes that Achilles is capable of generous
and open emotions, though only in his most intimate relationships. He has loved
in his life, and he has been loved: he loved Briseis and his friend Patroclus.
He loved the relatives he left behind in Pythia, especially his father.
But he was relentless. He could not, even in this
heartfelt exchange with Priam, agree to the cessation of that deadly hemorrhage
of the Trojan War. Achilles did not share the reasons for the war and because
of a dispute with the Greek supreme king, Agamemnon, he did not participate in
battles. He only went out to fight with Hector because he had killed his dear
friend Patroclus. Achilles was on the beaches of Troy only because he was
Greek, and the war was the result of an agreement between the nascent cities of
that cultural amalgam. He said: "The Trojans... have never bothered me...
We sailed... to avenge an evil that is private..." (Homer, n.d., p. 13). [6]
During their encounter, Achilles and Priam wept
together as sensitive men, despite belonging to the two "enemy" sides
of a long and painful war. But Achilles has not been able to overcome the
barrier of hatred that divides the Greeks and the Trojans as nations in
conflict. The conflict must continue to its ultimate and tragic consequences
because it is inevitable. There is no human contact that can change this misery
and this fatality. Priam spent part of the night in Achilles' tent and then
returned to Troy to bury his son.
Among the elements that we can derive from this
allegory we can point out a) the difference between spontaneous empathy and its
systemic elaboration, b) the possibility of the coexistence of empathy and
hatred, c) the emergence of social actors in the cultural demands of their
time, d) the partial understanding that these actors have of this emergence, and
f) the possibility of dissidence - Priam's visit was against the norm in this
scenario.
The choice
between empathy and hatred is a cultural event. Cronick (2026) observes that we
share collective responsibility for the culture in which we live. We choose
parenting styles that are going to produce selfish and self-centered children,
or empathetic and generous children. She says that the cultivation of fear can
be a self-defense mechanism for group solidarity and even for the perverse
survival of the group.
But empathy can also be a tool that empowers in a
positive way. Ines Kudo and Joan Hartley (n.d.) say that "social
skills" can enhance learning in general. They also contrast
"tenacity" and "social skills". Self-reliance and
resilience can be helpful for personal success in meeting educational and
career goals, but they can also breed loneliness that can lead to self-centered
goals. Social skills, such as openness to empathy, can open up possibilities
for more meaningful lives as adults.
However, as the authors also warn, in order to have
important effects at the cultural and state levels, empathy must be accompanied
by an awareness of how to use it. They say:
Empathy and compassion are
meaningful when children know, understand, and trust themselves, as well as when
they know who they are, what they have in common with others, and what sets
them apart. We need to teach children to be aware of and control their impulses
and emotions so that they can focus on how others are feeling without
dismissing their own feelings or letting them get in the way. Only then will
empathy and compassion build a true connection. Teaching empathy also requires
helping students understand and acknowledge the discrimination, condescension,
or oppression—overt or hidden, macro or micro—that other people and groups
experience on a daily basis because of their gender, age, ethnicity, faith,
socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, etc. (Kudo and Hartley, n.d.)
This means that the capacity for empathy must be
combined with a "broader skill set" that includes critical thinking
and a basic understanding of "the conditions that perpetuate
injustice." A basic and spontaneous empathic reaction is to drop a few
coins into a beggar's bowl. A broader understanding would lead to life choices
that could facilitate the creation of a culture of justice and compassion.
Values
and ideology
The "false life" of Vácklav Havel
Václav Havel et al (1978), a philosopher and a former
president of Czechoslovakia, spoke of how in totalitarian systems people live
"inside the lie", not because they believe in it, but because it is
the "way to survive". The "false life" is an imposed
representation that enhances the group’s cohesion. People incorporate the
system’s “reality” as defined by its ideology so that they can continue to
function within it without breaking down psychologically. Referring to the
systems that remained in Eastern Europe after Stalin's death, especially in
Czechoslovakia, as the "dictatorship of a political bureaucracy" (p.
24), Havel says that it is:
[…] a huge power bloc
controlled by one of the two superpowers. And while it naturally exhibits
several local and historical variations, the scope of these variations is
fundamentally limited by a single unifying framework across the power bloc. Not
only is dictatorship based on the same principles and structured in the same
way (i.e., in the way the ruling superpower evolves), but each country has been
completely penetrated by a network of manipulative instruments controlled by
the superpower center and totally subordinated to its interests (p. 24).
It is a historically particular case of extreme
control over the behavior and thinking of its citizens. The system has been
based on an old cultural heritage, prescribed in the nineteenth century, and
formalized by Russian influence in the twentieth century. According to Havel,
the system:
[…] imposes an ideology
incomparably more precise [than other modern forms of dictatorship. It is]
logically structured, generally understandable, and, in essence, extremely
flexible which, in its elaboration and completeness, is almost a secularized
religion [....] The price is the abdication of one's own reason, conscience,
and responsibility, for an essential aspect of this ideology is the consignment
of reason and conscience to a higher authority (p. 25).
Havel refers to this system as
"post-totalitarian", because it surpasses the usual absolute systems.
He refers to the owner of a fruit and vegetable store as a metaphor for this
type of system. He describes how the grocer places a small sign between the onions
and carrots that announces: "Workers of the world, unite!" Havel
suggests that this is not revolutionary enthusiasm, but an almost automatic
reflex that goes beyond obedience. It's a necessary and useful act, like
hanging up curtains and putting forks on the table. The greengrocer has crossed
the limits beyond ideology, he is accustomed to the usefulness of the message. His
behavior is directed "upwards," at government bureaucrats. And, in
addition, here Havel adds something very important: the meaning of the message
has to do with "the very existence" of the greengrocer. His
commitment is ideological and not reflexive, that is, it is an illusion of
identity, and at the same time, a "stupid modus vivendi", something
that exists in, and for itself.
What's more. The ideological system is self-inclusive.
He says:
The internal goal of the
post-totalitarian system is not merely to preserve power in the hands of a
ruling clique, as seems to be the case at first glance. Rather, the social
phenomenon of self-preservation is subordinated to something higher, to a kind
of blind automatism that drives the system. The position that individuals
occupy in the hierarchy of power doesn’t matter, the system does not consider
them valuable in themselves, but only as things destined to feed and serve this
automatism (p. 30).
Havel observes that citizens don't have to believe the
ideology, although some will. But they have to behave as if they believe it,
they must "live within the lie" (p. 31) and accept it, becoming part
of it. Lying becomes a "metaphysical" system that facilitates its proper
and practical performance. Likewise, in cases where someone begins to question
the lie, those who have the obligation to safeguard the illusion will act to
preserve it, and will punish the dissident because they also live inserted in
the lie.
Those who overcome the lie will expose and weaken it,
and for this reason they represent a danger to the functioning of the system
per se. Those who recognize the truth behind the lie demonstrate that:
[…] In the post-totalitarian
system, living within the truth has more than a mere existential dimension
(returning humanity to its inherent nature), or a noetic dimension (revealing
reality as it is), or a moral dimension (setting an example for others). It
also has an unmistakable political dimension (p. 40).
According to Havel, breaking the lie is equivalent to
destroying the system. It may happen that citizens realize their ideological
servitude due to the dissident. They may remain under the control of the power
that ideology represents, but at some point they may react by joining a social
movement or an "explosion of civil unrest" (p. 42). Then something
like "the Prague Spring" can happen[7].
Havel speaks of a very particular socio-political
system of power and says that in other systems the configurations of beliefs
and power do not work in the same way. However, we propose that this type of
ideological control can exist in any grouping that is sufficiently closed. The
characteristic that maintains the system is that of a lie that all members mustaccept
so that the organization can continue to function.
There are other trends of beliefs in which people
defend false ideas; Some falsehoods are blatant. We have reviewed some
situations in which conspiracies, and adherence to easily falsified dogmas and
opinions, are fiercely defended by their adherents. It is not just the open and
silent lie exposed by Havel. In these cases, believers see their own existence,
and that of the group, as inherent in the acceptance and defense of the lie.
What's more, when the group accepts the lie as
unquestionable and true, they are often vociferous in its defense. They don't
miss any opportunities to proclaim it. Before the Internet there were parks and
sidewalks that had regular, informal speakers who would stand on soap boxes or oil
drums to proclaim their messages to the public.
Nowadays they use social media as a dissemination platform.[8] They do not tend to form discreet and quiet groups
that live their beliefs calmly.
This need to seek out new believers is interesting. In
the case of some religious groups, this behavior may be related to the
altruistic desire to "save" others. There are also political parties
in the process of expansion. But proclaiming the supposed existence of a flat
world is apparently useless.
The creation of myths of exclusion and cultural and
personal weakness
The quasi-intentional formation of myths and beliefs
can be thought of as a reflection of some weakness or neurosis against which
people have to defend themselves. It could even be that the elaboration of
beliefs such as the flat world, or the rejection of vaccines responds to the
fear of science, and "enlightened" thinking. They are perceived as
threats both to previous belief-systems such as religions, and one’s personal
dignity as uneducated. Scientists have a culture that is not only exclusive,
but also elite. The elites are always
considered as a select minority, who are somehow "better". Their existence reflects social differentiation,
and implicitly exposes others for their own shortcomings. This perception can
be painful, and it can be postulated that the creation of ideas against science
is a defense of the identity of believers.
In general, the construction of the Other is an
exclusionary process. Sigmund Freud and others have pointed to it as an
essential component in distinguishing the self as an autonomous entity.
Sometimes "the Other" can be constructed as a threat, it can even be
perceived as a danger. Next, we review how Jacques Lacán and Sigmund Freud
elaborate the creation of the Other in general as a threat.
Reaction-formation
Freud proposed the psychological concept of
"reaction formation" to describe a defense mechanism that people can
use to hide and disguise their true feelings. It is the replacement of an
uncomfortable feeling, such as insecurity or fear of being inferior, with
opposite expressions and behaviors, in this case, aggression or provocation.
The substitute behavior often appears to an exaggerated degree.
Jerry Esponoza (2011) mentions the "narcissism of
small differences". Drawing on his own Lacanian interpretation of Freud's
concepts, he says that:
Lacan maintains that the ego
by definition has a paranoid structure, since it is constituted from the
identification of the child with his mirror image and the illusion of completeness.
In the mirror, the child recognizes himself and perceives otherness as
something alien to him and therefore threatening. Thus, paranoia for Lacan
becomes the constituent condition of our subjectivity itself (p. 35).
In this way, according to Esponoza, xenophobia
expresses the "fear of losing ourselves" in what appears to us as
strange and threatening, and is based on the same experiences of primordial
identity. It would be a "constituent feature" of human identity, and
as the author observes, it is inescapable in the perception of the Other.
Sigmund Freud (1929) in his book Civilization and Its
Discontents, raises the possibility of an "oceanic" feeling[9] of identification and love for all humanity. He
recognizes its existence in some individuals, but rejects it as a universal
tendency. Rather, according to Freud, it would be an infantile state in which
the "principle of reality" has not yet been imposed. This reality
would be uncomfortable. It is about "the acceptance of an 'outside', of an
external world, [which] gives the frequent, multiple and inevitable sensations
of pain and displeasure" (p.3). The still omnipotent pleasure principle
induces the child to abolish and avoid them.
With the child’s development, relationships with other human beings
get in the way, first those of the family and then those of society in general.
Adults must learn to direct instinctive love (between close family members and
between sexual partners) towards larger and larger groups, which implies a loss
of libido energy. In addition, there is an aggressive instinct in the human
being. Freud says that:
[…] I concluded that, in
addition to the instinct which tends to preserve living substance and to
condense it into ever greater units, there must be another, antagonistic to it,
which tends to dissolve these units and return them to the most primitive,
inorganic state. So in addition to Eros there would be a death instinct; [… I conluded
that] the death instinct acted silently in the innermost part of the living
being, pursuing its disintegration; […] A part of this instinct is directed
against the outside world, and then manifests itself as an impulse of
aggression and destruction. In this way, the death instinct itself would be placed
in the service of Eros, since the living being would destroy something
external, animate or inanimate, instead of destroying itself (p.29).
He says that "the aggressive tendency is an
innate and autonomous instinctive disposition of the human being; " […]
the former constitutes the greatest obstacle that culture encounters" (p.
30). The remedy, according to Freud, is the individual and collective
development of an effective "superego", that is, the capacity to feel
guilt and restrict the pernicious effects of aggressiveness.
Freud does not include the affective ties of identity
groups in his analysis, which are strongly associated with the "ideal del yo."
We can assume that these ties would be linked to primary narcissism and
referred to the pre-social stage of the child when he is still considered
omnipotent and complete. The adult, by associating with a group of similarities
– in his fantasy they are the same as himself – would symbolically be
recreating the infantile absolutism that he possessed before having to confront
the Others.
The ideal ego can be contrasted with the "ideal of
the id" which is a psychic superego construct that develops later. It
originates, not in reference to the memory of the overbearing child, but with
the identification with, and recognition of, the ideals and demands of the
Other, seen as something external and accepted (internalized). We have already
referred to how Freud proposes a normative-cultural, or super-ego, solution to
cultural and individual aggressiveness in his book, Discomfort in Culture.
Cultural anguish, racism and xenophobia
Racism and xenophobia have long histories, and their
many forms appear repeatedly. As in the case of ideology, its evidence is
frequently denied and even suppressed, as in police or legal instances. Jerry
Priven (2024) quotes Gorden, "The art of not-seeing is encouraged in what
is touted as certainties."
Articles that analyze the cultural and psychological
causes of racism and xenophobia are scarce. Most of the analyses have to do
with everything that these nightmares mean to their victims. There are works of
fiction on the subject[10], and although they also tend to emphasize the victim’s
hardships, there is a certain reflection on the thoughts of the perpetrators.
Evidently, they do not consider themselves guilty; In novel characterizations,
the most lucid characters are sometimes justified and explained. In those
characters whose educational training does not allow it, we basically find
inarticulate expressions of contempt and hatred.
In Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin,
the consciousness (and conscience) of the characters is a central theme. For
many of her characters, they are related to the dictates of religion. For
others, a bad conscience does not exist as an influence on their opinions and
behavior. Their main criterion is simply their own financial and personal
benefit. One character, Augustine St. Clare, is a slave owner; he is an educated
man who identifies with the European
Enlightenment, and is aware of this contradiction. However, his decisions
regarding his slaves are mostly based on economic expediency. He says:
[... ] All I want is for
different things to be stored in different boxes. The whole fabric of society,
both in Europe and in America, is composed of various things that will not
stand up to the scrutiny of any ideal standard of morality. It is generally
understood that men do not aspire to absolute right, but only to do it as well
as the rest of the world. Now, when someone speaks... and says that slavery is
necessary for us, that we cannot live without slavery, that we would be beggars
if we gave it up, and, of course, that we intend to maintain it: this is
strong, clear, and well-defined language; it has the respectability of truth;
and, if we can judge by their practice, the greater part of the world will
agree with us..." (Stowe, Chapter 16).
What does this character express? First, thoughts must
be kept "in boxes" where contradictions are not evident. He
recognizes the dubious morality of slavery. But above all, he recognizes the
benefits that this economic institution represents for him and the other
slaveholders. He identifies with his group, and tries to ignore the injustices
he represents for others. Augustine St. Clare is exceptionally illustrious
among slaveholders, but his close identification of class and race can be
appreciated. He realizes the inherent weakness of his situation: "we, who
cannot live without it." It is an belief built on the fear of scarcity.
Elene Sihera (2026) has identified four causes for
racism. The first is a search for protection among people who resemble oneself
in appearance, social class, and other identities. The second is the fear of
loss and displacement. The third is a repetition of old survival schemes that
are based on ignorance. The fourth is a lack of self-love. This last cause
reflects what Freud has written about the loss of the energy of the libido.
Jerry Priven (2024) uses the word "onticide"[11] which he defines as "the malicious annihilation
of the existential-emotional being of another". He notes that the repeated
effects of racist violence and injustice are grotesque, but says that they
cannot be adequately explained as the consequences of ignorance or prejudice.
It is, according to him, an existential phenomenology to explain "that disgust,
malice and contempt". In his article he explores how inner poverty and
existential wounds become external and become fantasies of evil, and how
"the ontological fear of annihilation and non-being induces the desire to
harm, diminish, and annihilate the threatening other." Again, we see how
the use of power in the hands of emotionally wounded people becomes identity
cruelty.
Priven uses the character of Ahab in Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick as a metaphor for this process. Ahab begins to fantasize about the great while whale with "all sorts of morbid innuendos [...] half-formed supernatural agencies, which finally endowed Moby Dick with new terrors not taken from anything that appears visibly" (Melville, quoted in Priven). Priven says that terrors are born from dark imaginations of the inner psyche. "They are feverish ghosts, not emanations of real evil." Moreover, Ahab begins to identify with the whale, as something of his own that must be uprooted, as an original sin.
“… Well,
maybe like Casy says,
a fella
ain't got a soul of his own,
but on'y a
piece of a big one -and then.
Then what,
Tom?
Then it
don't matter.
Then I'll
be all aroun' in the dark.
I'll be
everwhere -wherever you look.
Wherever
they's a fight so hungry people can eat.
I'll be
there..."
Taken from Tom Joad's character
in the novel The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck[12]
FINAL THOUGHTS
In this essay we have explored how people explain
their world and their reasons for doing so. This project has required
consideration of a number of issues associated with this central issue. For
this reason, we have reviewed how truth is constructed, and the role of empathy
– or lack thereof – as parts of this process. Empathy influences the
identification of who are the friends and enemies, and the willingness of the
individual or group to enter into dialogue with the Other. We have reviewed the cultural, ideological,
and psychological influences that come from identity structures, such as
organizations and instances of social power, and how they influence individuals
and groups. We have also reviewed how structures of social exclusion are formed
and maintained and their tendency to manifest themselves in episodes of anger
and violence.
We have presented several approaches that represent
the acceptance of false beliefs as a weakness, that is, an escape from
psychological and existential discomfort, which would ultimately increase the believers’
isolation and discomfort. But there are other ways to look at the reasons for
forming dubious beliefs. Hannah Davis (2025) raises the possibility that the
acceptance of beliefs whose falsehood is evident to most people can
"empower" believers. She says:
The group often experiences
confirmation bias, seeking information that supports their beliefs while
ignoring conflicting evidence. The appeal of an alternative worldview can
provide a sense of empowerment, creating a strong emotional attachment to these
theories (Davis, 2025).
She calls this tenacity "selective
skepticism."
However, in the long run, self-deception does not lead
to well-being. The opposite of this biased skepticism is problematization, a
basic process for psychosocial approaches that promote community empowerment.
We have, then, two ways of looking at empowerment. The first, identified as
such by Davis, would be an accommodation, or a collective relief for those who
feel threatened by doubts and uncertainties. Obviously, the offer of the
scientific method can constitute a threat to those who cannot tolerate changing
realities. It is precisely the uncertain doubt and interpretative changes that
accompany Karl Popper's (2005) demand for "falsifiability" that
currently forms the basis for all scientific activity.
On the other hand, empowerment can be interpreted as
part of the progressive evaluation and search for viable solutions based on
thoughtful and open criteria. Cronick (2009) says that one of the central demands
for community facilitation is the need to carry out participative evaluations.
It is about getting people involved in change projects to problematize their
opinions – and their knowledge in general. Cronick says:
The product of
problematization would be "awareness". The latter term is sometimes
confused with traditional pedagogy: the act of passing on information and
concepts that are pre-elaborated and impeccable. A classical teacher can
measure the degree of "awareness" of his or her students by means of
an exam in which they must answer his or her questions "correctly".
In this type of collective evaluation we find a
dialectical and transformative process where the answers do not follow a
pre-elaborated conceptualization, but rather advance over doubts, confirming or
rejecting them according to lived experience and intentional inquiry.
In the epigraph that precedes this final section of
our essay, the words of a character from John Steinbeck's book, Grapes of
Wrath, appear. Tom Joad is a protagonist who has gone through many tragedies
and obstacles, along with his family, on a journey from Oklahoma to California
in his escape from the destruction of his home in times of drought (the
"Dust Bowl") that coincided with the Great Depression of the 30s of
the twentieth century in the United States.
His speech is now well known. It reminds us of Freud's
reference to an "oceanic" feeling, a far-reaching empathic
experience. Freud rejected this feeling when conceived of as an element widely
shared among human beings. But Tom says that maybe we are part of something
bigger that exists everywhere, something deeply human that stands up for
everyone. Tom longs to be part of this "something."
This feeling has to do with tolerance of differences.
But in addition, perhaps it includes the permanent will to problematize, as a
posture open to the possibilities of thought.
REFERENCIAS
Acosta
Ávila, M. T. (2006). La psicología de
las minorías activas revisitada: entrevista con Serge Moscovici. Polis: Investigación y Análisis Sociopolítico
y Psicosocial, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Unidad Iztapalapa. Distrito
Federal, México. 2 (1), 141-177. https://www.academia.edu/96830018/La_psicolog%C3%ADa_de_las_minor%C3%ADas_activas_revisitada_entrevista_con_Serge_Moscovici
Alonso,
D., Caula, S., & Palenzuela, P. R. (2026, January 2). El libre albedrío no
es una ilusión: es una conquista evolutiva. Ethic. https://ethic.es/libre-albedrio-ilusion-conquista-evolutiva.
Angelov,
P. P., Soares, E. A., Jiang, R., Arnold, N. I., & Atkinson, P. M. (2021,
julio). Explainable artificial intelligence: an analytical review. Wiley
Interdisciplinary Reviews: Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, 11(5). DOI:10.1002/widm.1424.
Arkin, D. & Ingram, D. (2024, Sept. 10). Trump pushes
baseless claim about immigrants 'eating the pets'. (Trump
promueve la afirmación infundada sobre los inmigrantes 'comiendo a las
mascotas'). NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-pushes-baseless-claim-immigrants-eating-pets-rcna170537
Asch, S. E. (noviembre de 1955). Opinions
and Social Pressure. (Opiniones y presión social). Scientific American 193(5):
31-35. https://ciudadseva.com/texto/rima-91/
Capon, N; J. &
Hulbert, J, (1973). "The Sleeper Effect - An awakening". Public
Opinion Quarterly. 37(3) 333-358. doi:10.1086/268097. https://academic.oup.com/poq/article-abstract/37/3/333/1915302?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false
Cook, TD; &
Flay, B. R. (1978). "The
persistence of experimentally induced attitude change". Advances in
Experimental Social Psychology, 11, 1-57. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/chapter/bookseries/abs/pii/S0065260108600040
Cooper, J. F. (1757/2021). The Last of the Mohicans (El Último de los Mohicanos). The
Project Gutenberg. Disponible en: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/940/940-h/940-h.htm
Córdoba Molina, D. (2015). Repensar la
igualdad democrática: Isonomía, Isegoría e Isotimia. StudyLib. Colección No 25, pp. 11-39. https://studylib.es/doc/4624707/isonom%C3%ADa--isegor%C3%ADa--isotimia
Cronick, K (2025-b, julio 14). From hatred
to empathy: an essay on free will (Del odio a la empatía: un ensayo sobre la
libre albedrío). Blog. Reflexiones4-karen.blogspot.com. Reflexiones4-karen.blogspot.com.
https://reflexiones4-karen.blogspot.com/2025/07/from-hatred-to-empathy-essay-on-free.html
Cronick, K. (18 de abril de 2026).
Nosotros sembramos la cultura que queremos. Blog: Reflexiones4-Karen.
https://reflexiones4-karen.blogspot.com/2026/04/nosotros-sembramos-la-cultura-que.html
Cronick, K. (2009). Evaluación participativa. Un modelo
construccionista. Caracas: Universidad Central de Venezuela.
Cronick, K. (2025-a, 14 de diciembre). A band of brothers -the military mind- (Una banda de
hermanos: la mente military). Blog: Reflexiones4/Karen.
https://reflexiones4-karen.blogspot.com/2025/12/a-band-of-brothers-military-mind.html?zx=99e0d5eea99f051a
Cronick, K. (2026, 18 de febrero). La
empatía y los infractores. Blog:
Reflexiones4-Karen. https://reflexiones4-karen.blogspot.com/2026/02/la-empatia-y-los-infractores-karen.html
Cronick, Karen (2022) Los antiguos griegos
y nosotros. Kindle, por Amazon, Los
Antiguos Griegos y Nosotros eBook : Cronick, Karen : Amazon.es: Libros
Davis, Hannah (2025, 7 de enero). Why Flat
Earth Theories Refuse to Die: Analyzing the Psychological and Cultural Factors
Behind Their Persistence (La razón por la cual las teorías del mundo plano
niegan a desararecer). Debunk
the Myth.
https://www.debunkthemyth.org/2025/01/07/why-flat-earth-theories-refuse-to-die-analyzing-the-psychological-and-cultural-factors-behind-their-persistence/
de Boer, J. & Aiking, H. (2024,
Abril). Citizens and conspiratorial anti-science beliefs: Opposition versus
support in 38 countries across Europe (Ciudadanos y creencias conspirativas
anticientíficas: oposición frente a apoyo en 38 países de Europa). Public Understanding of Science. 17;33 (8) 1027–1045.
doi: 10.1177/09636625241245371.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11505401/
Emerson, R. W.
(1871/2021). The conduct of life. (La conducta de la vida).
Project Guttenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/39827/39827-h/39827-h.html
Esponoza Rivera, J. (2011, mayo-diciembre). El resurgimiento de la xenofobia y la crisis
del multiculturalismo. Una lectura desde el psicoanálisis. Revista de filosofía Universidad Iberoamericana
Costa Rica, 127-128, pp. 33-37, IISSN: 0034-8252.
https://inif.ucr.ac.cr/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Vol.%20L/No.%20127-128/El%20resurgimiento%20de%20la%20xenofobia%20y%20la%20crisis%20del%20multiculturalismo%20Una%20lectura%20desde%20el%20psicoan%C3%A1lisis.pdf
Felmlee, D. & Faris, R. W- (2026, 6 de
abril). "bullying".
Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/bullying.
Accessed 22 April 2026.
Fernández, R., Pagés, C., Székely, M.
& Acevedo, I. (2025, 3 de marzo). Education inequalities in Latin America
and the Caribbean (IDesigualdades educativas en América Latina y el Caribe). Oxford Open Economics, Volume 4, Issue
Supplement_1, Pages 55–76.
https://doi.org/10.1093/ooec/odae013.
https://academic.oup.com/ooec/article/4/Supplement_1/i55/8046481
Festinger, L.
(1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations 7 (2):
117-140.
Freud, S.
(1929/s.f.). Malestar en la cultura. FaunaPsi.
https://web.seducoahuila.gob.mx/biblioweb/upload/freud_malestar.pdf
Galindo, M. E. B. (2025). La Inteligencia
Artificial desde una perspectiva crítica: IA Generativa como una herramienta de
transmisión de información y conocimiento. Derecho De La Comunicación, 38(1),
73–85. https://doi.org/10.5209/dere.102345
Gallegos, R. (1929/s.f.).
Doña Bárbara. Guao.
https://www.guao.org/sites/default/files/biblioteca/Dona%20Barbara%20%20Romulo%20Gallegos.pdf
Gordon, L. (1997). Existential dynamics of
theorizing black invisibility (Las dinámicas existenciales en la teorización
con respecto a la invisibilidad de la raza negra). En L. Gordon (Ed.), Existence in black: An anthology
of black existential philosophy (pp. 69–79). Routledge.
Gordon, L.
(2022). Fear of black consciousness (El miedo a la consciencia Negra). Farrar,
Straus and Giroux
Havel, V. et
al (1978/2019). The power of the powerless. (El poder de quienes no
tienen poder). Editor, John
Keane. M. E. Sharpe, Inc. Armonk, New
York. Internet Archive.
https://dn710009.ca.archive.org/0/items/the-power-of-the-powerless-citizens-against-the-state/The%20Power%20of%20the%20Powerless_%20Citizens%20Against%20the%20State.pdf
Herrera Luque, F. (1979//2013, 26 de abril).
Los amos del valle. Epub.
http://blog.pucp.edu.pe/blog/identidadperuana/wp-content/uploads/sites/291/2018/02/Los-Amos-del-Valle-Francisco-Herrera-Luque.pdf
Homero (s.f.). La Ilíada.
FreeEditorial. https://www.biblioteca-digital.universidadcolumbia.edu.mx/acervo/LITERATURA/La_il%C3%ADada-Homero.pdf
Kudo, I.
& Hartley, J. (n.d.).Teaching (with)
empathy and compassion in schools (Enseñar con empatía y compassion en las
escuelas). UNESCO https://mgiep.unesco.org/article/teaching-with-empathy-and-compassion-in-schools
Kumkale GT
& Albarracín D. (2004 Jan ). The sleeper effect in persuasion: a
meta-analytic review. (El efecto del durmiente). Psychological Bulletin.;130(1):143-72.
doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.130.1.143. PMID: 14717653; PMCID: PMC3100161.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3100161/
Lee, H. (1960/
s-f)). To kill a mockingbird. McIntosh and Otis, Inc.,
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1slwrNdiax7OZLNueAYYF79txVOwU3Kq4/view
Libres, F. N. M.-. L. (2026, 11 de mayo).
La soberana verdad. América 2.1. https://americanuestra.com/la-soberana-verdad/
Lopez Obredor, A.M. (s.f.). Grandeza.
Librolandia.
https://navegantesdelcosmos.ec/repositorio/libros/Grandeza%20-%20Andres%20Manuel%20Lopez%20Obrador.pdf
Mantilla Quijano, A. (s.f.). Conhecimento, políticas públicas e injustiça epistêmica:
Uma resposta a Moisés Wasserman. (Conocimiento, política pública e
injusticia epistémica: una respuesta a Moisés Wasserman). Clascco.
https://www.clacso.org/pt/el-conocimiento-la-politica-publica-y-la-injusticia-epistemica-una-respuesta-a-moises-wasserman/
Melville, H.
(1851/s/f). Moby Dick. Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2701
Milgram, S.
(1963). Behavioral study of obedience. (Un estudio conductista
de la obediencia). Journal of
Abnormal and Social Psychology. 67(4), 371–378. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1964-03472-001
Moscovici, S. (1996). Psicología de las
minorías activas. (Psicología de las minorías activas). Barcelona: Morata
Mukomel, V. (2015) Xenophobia as a Basis
of Solidarity, (La xenophobia como la base de la solidaridad. Russian Social
Science Review, 56:4, 37-51, DOI: 10.1080/10611428.2015.1074011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10611428.2015.1074011
Olweus, D,
(1994). Annotation: Bullying at School: Basic Facts and
Effects of a School Based Intervention Program. (Acoso
escolar: Hechos básicos y efectos de un programa de intervención escolar). Journal of Child Psychology Psychiatry. 35 (7),
1171-1190.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/15391812_Bullying_at_School_Basic_Facts_and_Effects_of_a_School_Based_Intervention_Program
Pérez-Mena, D. (2017, enero-junio). Muros
y símbolos: análisis iconográfico de un grafitti de “El Comandante” y “El
Conejo Torres, Del mito de la independencia a la Revolución Bolivariana.
ININCO/Investigaciones de la Comunicación, Etapa III, 29 (1), Caracas,
Editorial Alfa Anuario.
Piven, Jerry (2024, 21de
noviembre). Racism as ontological
terror and onticide (El racismo como terror ontológico y onticidio). Applied Psychoanalitic studies. 21 (4).
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/aps.1895?msockid=01b18ae111026c7e08dc990a10ad6d41
Popper, K.
(1939/2005). The Logic of Scientific Discovery. Routledge Classics. (Taylor
& Francis e-Library). https://philotextes.info/spip/IMG/pdf/popper-logic-scientific-discovery.pdf
Quiceno O., J. D.
(2025). Ipseidad y alteridad. identidad narrativa y relación con el
otro. En García, Pablo E. (Ed.) La persona entre lo individual y lo
comunitario. UPSA Ediciones (Universidad Pontificia de
Salamanca). ISBN: 978-84-17601-99-7. 199
Resnick, P. (1996). Isonomía, Isegoría,
Isomoiría y democracia a escala global. Isegoría, (13) 170–184.
https://doi.org/10.3989/isegoria.1996.i13.233
Rojas, R. (2025). Capital social y resiliencia comunitaria en
la comunidad “Las Casitas” de La Vega, Caracas, Venezuela. 2022 – 2025. Tesis
de Licenciatura, Escuela de Sociología, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y
Sociales, Universidad Central de Venezuela. Tutora: K. Cronick
Sánchez, P., Caula, S., & Palenzuela,
P. R. (2025, November 6). Lo que el cerebro nos enseña sobre juicios morales. Ethic.
https://ethic.es/cerebro-ensena-sobre-juicios-morales
Sartre, J. P.
(1943/ s/ f). El ser y la nada. WordPress. https://elartedepreguntar.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/sartre-jean-paul-el-ser-y-la-nada.pdf
Show, D. P. (2026, May 30). Why smart
people fall for INSANITY (La razón por la que
la gente lista se deja engañar). The David Pakman Show. https://substack.davidpakman.com/p/the-credibility-problem-hiding-in?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=20989&post_id=199786249&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=r3jrk&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Sihera, E.
(2026, May 15). The key causes of racism (Las causas claves del racism).
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/key-causes-racism-elaine-sihera-duniv-open--ltkbe/
Skinner, Burrhus F. (1971-2018). Más alla
de la libertad y la dignidad. Edición digital: Sargont.
https://dn721605.ca.archive.org/0/items/mas-alla-de-la-libertad-y-la-dignidad-b-skinner-biblioteca-cientifica-salvat-095-1987/Mas%20Alla%20de%20la%20Libertad%20y%20la%20Dignidad%20B%20Skinner%20Biblioteca%20Cientifica%20Salvat%20095%201987.pdf
Steinbeck, J.
(1939/ s/f)). Grapes of wrath. Google
Drive. https://ia800101.us.archive.org/8/items/collected-novels/The%20Grapes%20of%20Wrath%20%28%20PDFDrive%20%29.pdf
Stowe, H. B. (1852/ 28-10-2021). Uncle
Tom´s Cabin (La cabaña del Tío Tom). The Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/203/203-h/203-h.htm
Termini, A. (2026}.). Han decidido
prescindir de nosotros. El césped es
verde. https://www.elcespedesverde.com/han-decidido-prescindir-de-nosotros
TextesLibres.fr.
(n.d.). Ourika de Claire de Duras - PDF et EPUB gratuit.
https://www.texteslibres.fr/ourika-claire-de-duras.html
Torres, A. (2009). La herencia de la
tribu: Del mito de la independencia a la Revolución Bolivariana. Caracas, Editorial Alfa.
[1]
This is something pronounced by Donald Trump while he was campaigning
for the 2025 presidential election. He repeated it in various ways on other
occasions. It was a defamatory accusation against Haitian immigrants in the
United States, and was intended to create electoral hatred based on race and
citizenship.
[2] These groups may or may not
share a political stance.
[3] The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is a
secret terrorist society that promotes de the domination of people of color by
the so-called whites in the southern United States. It originated after the
Civil War in the 19th century.
[4] This essay makes use of multiple
bibliographic resources, and while most come from academic sources in the
sciences, philosophy, and literature, some come from informal websites. They
are all quoted at the end.
[5] According to Karl Popper (2005),
scientific theories can never be proven, but they can be falsified.
[6] The reason for the war was the
abduction of the Greek queen Helen, the wife of Menalaus, by Paris, a Trojan
prince).
[7] The Prague Spring was an episode of
mass protests in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1968 that lasted for
several months before being suppressed by Soviet forces.
[8] This difference between the lie
accepted as such, but in relative silence,
and the one that a person or group must accept in a vociferous and publicly
proclaimed way, results from a personal communication from Alcira Ludeña.
[9] The "oceanic" feeling
would be a global and affectively pleasing identification with the totality of
humanity.
[10] As examples we mention the novels
of Harriet Beecher Stowe (Uncle Tom's Cabin), Harper Lee (To Kill a
Mockingbird), Cooper (The Last of the Mohicans), Rómulo Gallegos (Doña
Bárbara), Francisco Herrera Luque (Los Amos del Valle), and Claire de Duras
(Ourika).
[11] The total destruction of meaning
[12] A fragment of the conversation
between Tom Joad and his mother, taken from The Grapes of Wrath, by John
Steinbeck.
"Well,
maybe as Casy says, you don't have a soul of your own, your own, but just a
piece of a big soul, and then you don't have a soul of your own.
So
what, Tom?
Then
it doesn't matter, then I'll be here in the dark, I'll be everywhere, so that
hungry people can eat. I'll be there."
