Welcome to Based Camp! In this episode, Malcolm and Simone Collins dive deep into the controversial topic of "us-versus-them" mindsets. Why is this behavior so often villainized in modern culture? Are there situations where group identity and rivalry are not only natural but necessary? The hosts explore the roots of group dynamics, the role of stereotypes, the impact of cultural and political polarization, and how these forces shape our society. They also discuss the double standards in how group pride is celebrated or condemned, the effects of AI and media on social divides, and the future of identity in an increasingly balkanized world. Whether you agree or disagree, this episode will challenge your assumptions and spark thoughtful debate. Malcolm Collins: Hello Simone. It's exciting to be here with you today. Today we are going to be discussing. Us versus them mindsets. ' Simone Collins (3): cause Malcolm Collins: when I, you know, sometimes I'll post transcript of our episodes into, you know, AI to see what it thinks of the arguments that we're Simone Collins (2): using. Oh no. And it just accuses you of us versus, and, and the most Malcolm Collins: frequent complaint I get Yeah. Is it uses the quote unquote fallacy of an UPS versus them mindset. A fallacy, and I'm like a, it's a mindset. Simone Collins (2): How is a mindset invalidated, even if it's like an evil mindset? It's not, no, they don't even call it a mindset. Malcolm Collins: They call it a a, a psychological bias, an us versus them psychological bias. And so we'll get into like why ai. Think that this is such a bad thing, because I hear it even more from AI than I do from typical urban monocultural people. But I do see it from the urban monoculture. We'll be like, oh, well that's the us versus them, you know, fallacy or whatever, or bias or you know, psychological, and I'm like. This is actually really messed up. And I would argue that the core reason why us versus them has been so widely framed as a bias is because it allows members of any, any potential group and the urban monoculture has evolved this as a framework. The urban monoculture is sort of what other people call, like woke or broadly progressivism. It allows. And, and what's what's interesting is, is they will tell you, don't use an US versus a mindset while using it themselves when talking about the deplorables or, or, or, or Trump voters or something like that. Right? Hundred percent. Yeah. Like clearly they have an US versus mindset, but then they will tell you, Hey, you know, you, you can't adopt this mindset. And it's a strategy that specifically evolved to prevent you from seeing them as the enemy and rallying around opposing them. There is a them and they are working against your interests. Like, this is the thing and this is why I'm so against this. Hey, I hate us versus them. It makes sense for you as a human to divide humanity into groups that oppose your interests and groups that are aligned with your interests. Because there are groups that are opposed to your interest and even more than just groups that are opposed to your interests. There are, groups that are explicitly around, you know, whether it's racial or gender or ethnocultural groups that have a banded together specifically so that people like them can outcompete people like you, right? And they make it, the urban monoculture makes it. The most punishable for individuals within the groups that it met. It victimizes most frequently to create a group identity as an us to oppose any them. Mm-hmm. So, recently there was a post I saw that I saw it was really shocking that somebody just nakedly had a publication turned down because the paper right now was not taking publications from white men. We're just not gonna do that. No, no, we haven't done enough. None. That is just. Racism and sexism. But if you said, Hey. White men feel that there is a group of individuals who are opposing them in part around gender or ethnic lines and that it makes sense for them to have some sort of comradery around that in terms of opposing that the urban monoculture would. Completely have a, a conniption fit. Whereas if you look at the culture, like the groups that it, it, it, it uplifts like it well pretends to uplift. See our episode on God, what, what's, what was the episode title where we showed that basically it equality Simone Collins (2): is something like, oh, the racism of equality. Racism of equality, yeah. Malcolm Collins: But like black culture, for example a if you look at Kwanza, like a specific part of Kwanzaa is only shopping at black owned businesses. Simone Collins (3): Mm-hmm. Malcolm Collins: Like it doesn't, it doesn't see any issue as this yet. If somebody said, I only wanna shop at white owned businesses. Right. And, and, and keep in mind, I mean, presumably Simone Collins (2): just imagining anyone being like, support your white-owned businesses this week, that would, I just, yeah. I don't know, like. Malcolm Collins: Well, I mean, and people can be like, oh, come on, these businesses aren't advantage. Well, first of all, there's all sorts of loans that they can get that clearly makes them an advantage. Oh my gosh, yes. Like, yeah, but they're subject to racism in terms of who shops there. And I'm like, we can see that. That's objectively not the case. Well also like how do you find out? Simone Collins (2): How would you know that? I mean, unless they actively advertise it. Malcolm Collins: They do actively advertise it if you go to Google Map. Oh yeah. Because it's to their Simone Collins (2): advantage. But like Malcolm Collins: if, if you go to Google Maps or if you go to Yelp it will say like black or a woman owned business. That's because they Simone Collins (2): know it will help them. But if they thought it would, right. Malcolm Collins: That's the point I'm making here. Okay. The very fact that they are opting into listing was this identification. And I have never seen a business advertise as a white or male owned business. Imagine Simone Collins (2): a male owned, Malcolm Collins: proudly male owned since 1984. We do that. Can we do that? Oh my God. I'm gonna do that with our businesses. Proudly a white male owned business. Um, Wow. Uh, No. No. But the point being is that the reason why people don't advertise with that is because they know that there is a prejudice against, white male owned businesses. Simone Collins (2): Yeah, absolutely. Malcolm Collins: And, and, and that they will get fewer customers while there is a, a, a positive prejudice towards women or, I, I love they say minority owned when these days minority is such like a, a self opt-in identification. One of the, the funniest. Ways this shows is, is Native Americans have like abysmal fertility rates, and yet the quote unquote Native American population has grown by like 90% in the past 10 years. And it's just due to deciding to identify as Native American, like Pocahontas. Elizabeth Warren what was she like one 17th Native American or something? I Simone Collins (2): thought she didn't turn out to have any. Malcolm Collins: Oh, maybe not at all. Simone Collins (2): Indigenous ancestry. Yeah, that was my understanding. Malcolm Collins: But the point here being is, and, and I'm making in this wider argument, is the reason they're imposing this restriction around ados versus mindset on you is so that you cannot recognize what they are doing to you. And so that the people who they victimize most cannot fight back. That's the entire purpose of this. Simone Collins (3): Hmm. Malcolm Collins: And so now we'll look at the arguments that they use against us versus a mindset to point out that there are fairly stupid arguments. So oversimplification and binary thinking. It reduces complex issues to good verse evil, right verse wrong, ignoring nuances. For instance, people tend to. Excuse flaws of their own group, attributing them to external factors while blaming inherent traits for the same issues. In outgroups, this can escalate minor disagreements into full blown divisions, as seen in political polarization where one side defies itself and demonizes the other, sorry, deifies itself and demonizes the other. And I'm like, I don't think that that's true at all. The, the opposite political party is genuinely, I think, pretty vile right now. Like I, I, I don't see that much. I like redeeming when we attack them, we attack them because. Of what they are attempting to accomplish and what they say they want, which is a, a, a racially segregated society. Like I don't think that that's a good thing. A racially segregated society was Jews at the bottom. I think that maybe we've seen this before and it is bad and it makes sense to be like, ah, them that they're doing the thing, the thing they've done before. We need to stop this. Kristen, Simone Collins (2): not a great thing. Yeah, Malcolm Collins: no, not a great thing. No. It's so funny, like the, the freaking bizarre, like. The same people we know, like educated, productive people. They'll like, share stuff with us that is obviously made up about things that's like happening in Gaza right now. And I'm like, you, you can tell this is obviously fake, right? Like you, you know, this is fake. And no, they, they won't like the, the, the tendency to want to see Jews in the most negative possible light, I think is incredibly high across populations, in part because, okay, well, that's a whole other video. I'm not gonna get too far into that, but I, but I, but I will say that we've seen this before, like, I, I, I find it crazy. That was in my lifetime. I remember walking through London at night. I don't go out at night and seeing an angry, very large mob shouting you know, from the river to the sea marching through the streets and, and very explicitly anti-Semitic things. And, then seeing, you know, death, death to the IDF and stuff like that at the the, the concert, this giant concert, this giant crowd of pr
