Rivalries are Fractals!

There's a bit of a rivalry between the "East" and "West". It has probably been built up to be more than it would be by politicians trying to blame "them" for "our" problems.

Within the West there is a rivalry between the US and Europe. It is not a strong one, but it exists and comes and goes based on world events. Right now it is probably more distinct if you don't count the UK as part of Europe (and don't forget Poland!).

Within the US there are rivalries between different regions. There is at least somewhat of a rivalry between each pair of the west coast, the midwest, the south, and the northeast. Politics has really highlighted some of these rivalries. At this level people can start to get offended if you confuse which region they are from.

Within the midwest there are rivalries between different states. This level tends not to be as strong, but it does exist, especially if you include the impact of sports.

Within Kansas there is a rivalry between cities and rural areas (ok, maybe cities should be in quotes unless we include a slice of Missouri).

There is a rivalry between the two "cities" in Kansas - Kansas City and Wichita.

Within Kansas City there is a rivalry between the "Johnson County" types and other areas (I should really know Kansas City better than I do).

Within Johnson County there are rivalries between the different school systems. Within Blue Valley there are rivalries between the different high schools. Within a high school there are rivalries between the grades. Within a grade there are rivalries between the different groups...

I wanted to go down a path that I had a "right" to go down. Although I think there are some far more interesting paths (think going from UK vs the rest of Europe then England vs Scotland and Ireland then Ireland vs Scotland). No matter how much you zoom in you have the same basic picture. That's a fractal!

The odd part of rivalries is that as you zoom in they tend to get more intense (ooops, so much for being fractals). Again the example of going from Europe down to Ireland vs Scotland comes to mind. Or here's another path:
From my personal observations some reform Jews have little problem learning about and participating in Eastern religions, have a bit more hesitancy going to a church, and show significant resistance to taking part in orthodox Judaism.

I think a piece is that the closer the alternative is, the more likely it is to be true, so people feel more need to distinguish themselves from it. Although I don't think that explains all of it. I bet if I bothered to open my intro to psych book or do 5 minutes of googling someone would probably have a real explanation, but instead you get a page of thoughts that have been forced together to create what can't even be called a hypothesis (since it makes no testable predictions, hm, maybe Sarah Palin will defend teaching it in schools like she does for creationism).

Since the penalty for confusing someone in one group for being in another increases as the proximity and similarity of the groups increases it really discourages trying to group people. Since if you go too broad there's no point and if you go too narrow any inaccuracy will cause great offense. Which is a way more hippie, we're all just people, conclusion than I intended. And I don't think it is valid since there is some value in recognizing cultural differences and you can't do that if you're not willing to do at least a little grouping. Aren't you glad you went through all that to get a conclusion that is clearly wrong?

On a total tangent: Picking which path I had a "right" to go down was a bit odd. I've been told I have to spend around 10 years in California before I can claim to be a Californian (and go through an earth quake, although I'm not sure how I'm going to distinguish that from the sound of loose floorboards shaking due to the people upstairs running around or that few minutes of rhythmic shaking that comes from my next door neighbors around the same time each night). And having left SoCal it is like I'm starting over with the Bay Area. There's no way I can claim Bostonian since that was just for college. Paris was way too short for that claim (plus the lack of speaking french). I don't even remember living in Ohio. So Kansas City (or as demonstrated in this post I feel the need to specify Overland Park) would seem to be the strongest claim. Although having lived there for about 14 years on and off and then not having lived there for 8 years I'd say I'm quickly losing that claim. I'm a nothing-an. Throw in a lack of real religious identification and not being particularly skinny or fat and while being a bit on the short side I can't really identify as short or tall. I would make the worst stand-up comedian ever! There's no group I can get away with making fun of and then say "it's ok I'm one of them"! I guess I always have my nerdyness - I feel the need to go read slashdot and be with my people.


PS Since this post is free to travel through any of the tubes I feel the need to add that I'm not really having an identify crisis. And yes I do realize I'd be in the short category. And if the dentist who converted in that episode of Seinfeld gets Jew joke rights, I've totally earned them.