[side notes]

So, one of the many topics to come up repeatedly in class is the Ingroup/Outgroup Effect. What this theory teaches is threefold:

1. People like groups.
2. People want to belong to groups [This coincides with Anre's theory that all people have a desire to be a.) loved, liked, and belong b.) unique, special, and different]. In order to belong to a group, there must first be a group. In order to make a group, there must be multiple parties with noticeable similarities and differences.
3. People will assign similar attributes to members of their Ingroup, thereby "creating" similarities, and assign another set of opposite or at least contrasting traits to the Outgroup, thus "creating" differences [I use quotes here because they can be made to seem apparent even if they don't already exist].

So, if we are to take Anre's theory as true, then people like groups because they allow them to belong to a group with which they assimilate with and feel different from another group with which they are dissimilar.
At Notre Dame, groups are incredibly apparent (see TNDSL #24). At Notre Dame in Cape Town, groups are also apparent. While there are only 14 of us, it is very easy to see the groups that are forming. The Dunvegan kids, the Alma kids, the black kids, the white kids, the girls, the boys, etc. There are also groups forming that have less to do with given attributes as they do with similar personalities and friendships. In America, these have come to be known as cliques (I'm sorry, I had to say it).
So, where does Brawlma '09 come in? Well, it all started with two cliques (I'll try to make this as non-West Side Story as I can but it's pretty hard). We were in someone's room when mounting differences started to divide us. At first, I thought that our differences were reconcilable, but I soon realized that wasn't necessarily the case. And then it happened, BrAwlma '09 (if you haven't figured it out, its a combination of Brawl and Alma, the name of our house). So there we are, duking it out, 4 stubborn-as-hell college students who are all refusing to budge. Never before had our differences been so clear, or at least so clearly vocalized. How did it end, you ask? Well, eventually I walked out because I had places to be, but I'm pretty sure there were no resolutions found, no concessions made, and certainly no compromises.
I find it interesting when things like a mass genocide happen over seemingly insignificant differences (Darfur, Rwanda, Uganda, the Middle East, need I continue?), yet I repeatedly fall victim to the same problem. I claim open-mindedness while I am cemented in my ways. I say that I hate intolerance, yet I am intolerant to those I hate.

In sum, people scare me.

Sincerely

Jason