Split People in a Split World 341Mercy strategy is most affected by visual images and physical pain and
pleasure. Therefore, the emotional 'facts' about people which tend to stick
in our minds will involve externals such as skin color, body contact and
living conditions. The result is that it will be the very Perceiver categories
associated with the me of our physical bodies that will be selectively
supported by emotional 'facts' from defining experiences: Our „objective‟
mindset will logically convince us, first of all, that blacks are different
from whites, and this categorization will then be strongly reinforced
emotionally by any image which we see of poor blacks attacking rich
whites. Experiences of whites hurting blacks, in contrast, are rationalized
away as aberrations by the Perceiver confidence associated with the me of
our physical bodies. They may not even be noticed.
As one conclusion, I suggest that the terrible genocide perpetrated by
the German Nazis against the Jews and other so-called „inferior races‟
during World War II was not some inexplicable barbarian act, but rather a
logical result of technical brilliance combined with social backwardness.
Why did this racial hatred break out in Germany after World War I and not
in other places? I suggest that there were three major reasons: First,
Germany at that time was, quite possibly, the most technologically
advanced country in the world. Second, this objective wisdom was
combined with political immaturity. For hundreds of years, Germany had
been splintered into separate little kingdoms, many of them under the
tyranny of absolute monarchs. The country only became united in 1870,
and this occurred because Bismarck used war with Austria and France as
an emotional lever to „encourage‟ the other German states to join Prussia,
and not because of any Perceiver confidence in the rule of law. Even the
German democracy which did appear after the First World War was
triggered by the emotional upheaval of losing. Finally, the crisis of
hyperinflation during the 1920s—within several years, for instance, the
cost of mailing a letter went from one mark to over one billion marks—
produced a set of emotional 'facts' based entirely in external distinctions of
wealth and property. The result was that both Perceiver logic and
emotional 'facts' agreed that the only categories which mattered were those
of race, class and wealth.A
A Earlier on, we looked at Germany as an example of Perceiver confidence.
Now we see some of the dangers of rebuilding the me of the physical body
with Perceiver confidence while allowing the me of Mercy identification to
retain its childish worship of leaders and authorities. In terms of our
country illustration, this combines a „German‟ head with a „Russian‟ heart.
When mental development is halted in mid-stride, history shows that
humans can turn into monsters. Today, I suggest that it is the United States,
with its amazing economy, Disneyland mentality, and culture of rebellion,
which is most ripe for racism and fascism. The Germans at least know the
horrors of fascism and are trying to learn from their mistakes. The United