We don’t need ‘groups’

I was reading this post by a professor at John Hopkins who got fired for breaking a student protest. I was dismayed to see a discourse that uses the notion of groups for identification and exclusion, and expressions such as “white male” and “women of colors” to air grievances about perceived “discrimination”. Is there really such a thing as a “white male” or a “woman of color”? Sure, you can have the skin color advertised by the expression, but experience shows that you cannot really infer anything from that. “White males” are extremely diverse in their attitudes, thoughts, behaviors, economic status or political leanings, as are “women of color”. In the end, there are only individuals. We should let go of these expressions of inclusion and exclusion, as well as the useless preconceived ideas and biases they will conjure up. Let’s instead meet individuals one by one, with their unique circumstances and history. We should not claim membership in any specific group, but meet everybody equally, with respect and compassion.

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