How populists use us-versus-them language to divide people

In 1939, a 15-year-old Jewish Berliner, Peter Fröhlich, and his family fled their homeland, fearing the virulent anti-Semitism that would take over their country. After a brief stay in Cuba, he arrived safely in the United States in 1941. After becoming an American citizen and changing his name, Peter Gay dedicated his life to understanding the violent aggression that forced him to leave his home.

In his magnum opus The cultivation of hatredGay writes about how seemingly innocent Victorian cultural activities, such as the German tradition of them mensur (competitive fencing), normalize violence by creating ‘alibis’ that ‘convert free-floating boxing impulses into socially profitable energies’.

One such alibi is the ‘Convenient Other’. As “an immensely useful alibi for aggression,” the Convenient Other grants “permission to entertain evil thoughts and commit hostile acts.” These apparently innocent alibis, Gay argues, systematized the warmongering that inspired the First and Second World Wars. He continues:

The animus was always the same: whether it was a nation, a province or a city, or a religion, class or culture: the more one loved oneself, the more one had the right to hate the Other .

As in 20th century Europe, this deadly combination of diametrically opposed emotions – love for – arose us and hatred towards them– fuels today’s culture war.

As I wrote recentlyopportunistic politicians often misuse plural pronouns for political purposes. But while some politicians abuse first-person plural pronouns (We And us) to disingenuously build a collective identity, others use their counterparts in the third person (she And them) to divide and conquer.

Few political trends tap into this love us and hatred towards them more than populism.

The populist She/Them

Populism is at best a loosely defined term – more impulsive than principled. Its practitioners find comfort on both the political left (Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) and the right (Donald Trump). For better or for worse, populism is on the rise internationally and has achieved success significant electoral success in dozens of countries.

Populism thrives in an us-them dichotomy. The us is typically ‘the people’ – the powerless ordinary people with whom the populist seeks solidarity.

However, the antecedent of them is not always clear – and this ambiguity is a feature, not a bug.

A vague third person is a useful straw man for the deceivers. In The secret life of pronounsJames Pennebaker shares findings from a study comparing the court transcripts of convicted criminals with those later acquitted of their crimes. The acquitted used more first-person singular pronouns (I And me). Meanwhile, the “really guilty one,” Pennebaker notes, used third-person pronouns (she, them, He, sheetc.) more than the acquitted, “trying to shift the blame from themselves to others.”

The inaccuracy of the populist she/them enables its flexibility, making it malleable and applicable to an ever-changing set of goals. Researchers at Germany’s Friedrich Schiller University Jena are keeping a close eye on it investigated use of pronouns in populist rhetoric. According to their research, populists prefer impersonal pronouns, such as sheto avoid specificity, remove responsibility and reduce complexity.

Traditionally, this reductionist worldview has pitted itself against a wealthy and powerful “elite” – greedy corporations exploiting the poor on the left and a globalist cabal undermining cultural homogeneity and national sovereignty on the right.

However, populism is also targeting other groups – and few are better at hitting these moving targets than Donald Trump.

‘They will never make America great again’

On June 16, 2015, Trump iconically descended the escalators of his tower to announce his presidential ambitions. For almost an hour, then-candidate Trump did what he did best: scapegoat. With weaponized nostalgia, he lamented that we were once a great nation, but now the “American Dream is dead.”

Who Killed the American Dream? As always, Trump had a few suspects.

According to Trump, foreigners, especially those from Mexico, were a likely culprit (emphasis added):

If Mexico sends its people, they are they are not sending their best. They are don’t send you. They are don’t send you. They are send people who have a lot of problems, and they are that bring us problems. They are take medications with you. They are bring crime. They are rapists. And some are, I suppose, good people.

“She will never make America great again,” Trump concluded.

During this 45-minute speech, Trump used the word she 158 times. By comparison, Trump’s next most used pronouns were You (73 times), It (57), and I (55).

Trump’s repeated tirades against immigrants infamously resurfaced during the most recent debate. Citing the now debunked story of Haitian immigrants eating pets in Ohio, Trump shouted:

They are eating the dogs. The people who came in they are eating the cats. They are eating the pets.

Trump’s bold claim about pet-eating Haitians was demonstrably false, but that didn’t stop him from fanning the flames of moral outrage against other marginalized groups.

Trump’s campaign has dumped millions into the US attack ads with not so subtle transphobia. A advertisement proclaimed, “Kamala’s agenda is she/themnot you” – a clear gesture of his moralistic finger towards the transgender and non-binary communities.

In the final days of the election, Trump has built on this divisive rhetoric by setting his sights on another amorphous target: the “deep state.” “These are bad people,” the former president said said when referring to his political opponents. “We I have a lot of bad people…She are for me the enemy from within.”

Trump is ambiguous they/them can appropriately scapegoat and dehumanize multiple targets – the “deep state,” the LGBTQ community, immigrants, etc. Despite this ambiguity, Trump sends a clear message: She are destroying our country, and We must stop them at all costs. Trump’s use of the pronoun is at its best: an election tactic and at worst a virulent one dog whistle.

But Trump didn’t invent this us-versus-them mentality. (Although, if you get the chance, he would probably take credit for it.) Instead, populist pronouns tap into humanity’s worst tribalistic impulses and nativist instincts.

She Are Us

If populism is so dangerous, why is it so attractive? This question does not have a simple answer. However, research shows that people arrive at the us-versus-them dichotomy very naturally.

The us-versus-them worldview once served an essential evolutionary purpose. Skepticism about the unknown is a natural defense mechanism. If pre-modern humans had continually stopped and wondered if that thing over there that gave them the stink eye was a predator, humanity would have become extinct long ago.

Our body’s natural chemistry also forces this binary thinking. Oxytocin, also known as the ‘love hormone’, is a natural human hormone that simulates uterine contractions during childbirth, enhancing our feelings of human bonding. However, oxytocin also intensifies our… suspicions of others. This hormonal cocktail of opposing emotions – again, love for us and hatred towards them– literally flows through our veins.

Moreover, the human brain also rewards this contradictory behavior. Researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University studied the brain activity of students competing with other students from rival schools. They found that students who showed aggression against their rivals showed significant activity in their nucleus accumbens and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, the brain’s main reward circuit. This research suggests that this neural pathway – which anticipates, seeks out and evaluates stimuli – plays an “important role in motivating aggression” towards out-group members.

Although humans are social animals, humans are tragically programmed for the antisocial binaries that drive today’s toxic political culture.

So before we condemn a handy whipping boy (neither a Haitian nor a Trump), a little self-reflection will go a long way. Understanding the driving forces behind the us-versus-them paradox – whether it’s manipulative pronouns or human biology – starts with looking in a mirror to find the true enemy within.

Although Adolf Hitler pushed his family to flee Germany, Peter Gay also recognized that there was an aggressive population – or, in the words of Daniel Goldhagen: ‘Hitler’s willing executioners“—made the tyrant possible and stronger. “Hysteria defied self-control,” Gay writes. “Obsessional neurosis mimicked this.”

In this us-versus-them world, we have met the enemy – and she Are us.