The Danger of Cliques
People form friendships, and build close alliances. That is totally human, and generally a good thing. But when those alliances lead to blanket, uniform action, it has become a clique.
When one person can lead everyone in the group to do things that hurt others, it has become a clique.
And when that action lacks sense, and logic, then it has become a dangerous clique.
Recently I have lost some fiends on Facebook. They all were people who had unfriended a good friend of mine because she somehow seems to have offended one of them – someone whom she had put great energy into helping thru a difficult time.
So everyone in the clique unfriended her. But this is only one example of how these “groups” can develop a personality of their own. They spring into life, and move as a single entity. The opinion of one, becomes the opinion of all – especially if that “one” is a leader in the group. There is no shortage of followers.
It is a normal human thing actually… that does not make it right. When a group acts as a single unit, marching lock-step, they will plow over anyone they see as an “enemy”. And they have NO test in reality. They only “see” what the group sees.
These groups can create imagined insults, and act on them blindly in uniformity. Members think they are acting independently, but in reality, they are all acting in exacting unison.
This is dangerous. It creates “enemies” where none exist. It turns small issues into huge problems. And it hurts people. It is wrong.
As a teacher, I saw a lot of it. But it is much more distressing when it happens amongst adults… Especially older adults. But some people rely on their cliques for all their positive input. It can make them feel powerful, and safe.
But it belittles others. It can make people feel alone, and thrown away. And this needs to end.
If we can not end it… which I don’t think we can, then we can work to be aware of it. We can learn to recognize it, and fight against it.
Just be VERY careful that in so doing, you do not create your own clique to fight it! THAT would be a truly sad result. As Hitler said: “The strength of a dictatorship is that it forces its enemies to imitate it.”
I AM NOT MAKING ANY COMPARISONS TO ANYONE AND HITLER… I am only saying that when we start to act like them, they have won. It is as true of individuals as nations.
