Internalization

Internalization is a process by which we take ideas in that seem to be fact. These ideas are formed unconsciously. I usually do not think about why I believe what I believe, but during my UNHP lecture I started to think about it. Most my beliefs come from the way I grew up. I grew up in a Christian family with three siblings and both of my parents. I try to live my life with good morals and standards. Those morals and standards go along with what I am taught in the Bible and have been taught from my parents. I have also learned through experience, where I came up with my own thoughts and beliefs.

My Professor also talked about what Benedict Anderson said on nations. He said nations are acts of the imagination. The boundaries are made up and it is thought of as comradeship. He as well said people are willing to die for an abstraction. I thought this was well put. I have never thought about nations from that perspective. How does anyone decide what land is whose and how the land becomes someone’s? Every nation’s people are different and part of that nation. How can people who live right next to one another consider themselves different? Who came up with the distinct boundaries that no one can physically see? People fight their neighbors just because they are on the other side of an imaginary line. Once one thinks about it, the concept seems crazy. It is sad that we all are continuously pulled into internalization. Just because we are from one place or another we have set ideas and stereotypes. I know this will not change but it is very interesting to think about.