I had to read this amazing book for one of my classes. It's called "In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong" by Amin Maalouf. The first half of this book is about identity and what that word means. Maalouf talks about how complex each person’s identity is and how the more parts you add to your own identity, the more unique it becomes. The second half of this book is how identity affects our world. The part that I found the most striking is Maalouf writes about how it is not surprising that we have so much animosity and war in our world because of the way some people view their identities. People of certain religious groups, ethnicities, etc. decide to put their one identity at the forefront and leave the rest behind. They prioritize certain parts of their identity over others and need to feel as though they belong. When they feel that identity is threatened, through globalization, or just insulting their way of life, defending it, many times with violence, seems like the best option to these people.
Reading this book got me to thinking, why is it that we prioritize certain parts of our identities? If people really feel the need to belong, they don’t need to turn to religion, ethnicity, their favorite sports team, gender, clubs they belong to. These may all be important parts of their identity, but why not put human being first? Screw being Muslim or Jewish, black or white, male or female. What does it matter? We all inhabit the same planet so why can’t that be the identity that we place first? I am not saying that all of the other parts of a person’s identity are not important because believe they are. They are what make each person unique and different from any other person on the planet. Regardless of how different we all may be, get over it and embrace your humanity. Then everyone might just be fighting for the same cause.
Anyway, read the book. It’s short, but really well written and stirring.