Nick & Norah fix the world

MIRA SUCHAROV

There's an insightful exchange in the recent hit film Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (spoiler alert!) where Norah, a Jewish high school senior, explains to her love interest, Nick, the meaning of the Hebrew phrase tikkun olam (repair of the world). Nick replies that perhaps the concept speaks to the idea of the world becoming a better place when two lovers find each other.

Hollywood treatments of Jewish life have certainly evolved from the chopped-liver-sculpture-decapitation scene in the 1969 film Goodbye Columbus to such creative and intelligent parsing of talmudic phrases. But there is another lesson to be gleaned from the tikkun olam scene in this charmingly off-beat, coming-of-age film set during a single New York night. That is, social action and social justice can only take place if we internalize the humanity of the other. Like romantic partners coming together, fixing the world's ills – poverty, disease, racial injustice, human trafficking – will arguably never happen unless we examine how we think and talk about those who differ from us.

Social psychologists have long studied the dynamics of identity between groups, and how individuals view their sense of self in contrast to others. Being a woman gives rise to gender identity only insofar as a woman is aware of the existence of men; being white is only meaningful insofar as one is aware of blacks, Asians, etc. In the political realm, some observers have taken this to mean that conflict is inevitable, while others are more optimistic about the possibility for shared identity across social categories.

So while it is inevitable that human identity will in part reflect a natural sense of "otherness," as a society we can decide what we will make of that other. The discourse surrounding the United States' elections exemplifies the alarming lack of humanity that public discourse can lapse into. This is all the more disturbing in a democracy where all citizens are supposed to have the same formal rights, including the right to run for public office. (Although standards are more particular for U.S. presidential candidates, including having to be a natural-born citizen.)

As the media reported during the campaign, by attempting to discredit Sen. Barack Obama's legitimacy as a potential president, many "accused" him of being a Muslim. Other brave individuals, such as retired U.S. general Colin Powell, responded by stating that Obama is a Christian, not a Muslim, but adding, "The really right answer is, what if he is?"

The implication of such charges, of course, is that one religion is more American than another, and that Muslims do not really belong within the body politic of the United States. This is an insidious view, one that is not only morally repugnant, but can only serve to raise the level of intergroup tensions on a global scale.

We live in an increasingly globalized world where we increasingly bump up against each other – physically, in crowded cities; economically, through trade; and socially and intellectually through the marketplace of ideas. Fifteen years ago, Samuel Huntington hypothesized about a "clash of civilizations" occurring at the global level. The events surrounding 9/11 and the subsequent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have led many to believe that this dynamic indeed defines contemporary international life. But in order to improve the social, economic and political ills ailing the world, what we need to ask is how we can get past the determinations of who belongs and who doesn't in our estimation of who "counts."

Identity politics – attempting to delegitimize others by fixating on superficial differences from ourselves – obscures the ability to solve the big problems requiring joint action. If tikkun olam is partly about bringing two people together, maybe we can "scale up" that idea to the political level. We will never have enough political will to address the AIDS epidemic in Africa until we see those sufferers as being as important as SARS victims in Toronto; millions will continue to perish in Darfur unless we have a view of those genocide victims as deserving of life; sex trafficking will continue until we act on the fact that women are people, not objects; the homeless problem in our own cities will not improve unless we see the humanity in the souls of people living on our streets.

Helping fix the cracks in the structure of society – both locally and globally – will only happen by empathizing with others. And if that means "loving the one you're with," through a night of band-chasing in New York as Nick and Norah do, so much the better. But while you're gazing longingly at each other, don't forget the voiceless people falling by the wayside. They, too, need us to look into their eyes, no matter what color.

Mira Sucharov is an Ottawa freelance writer and an associate professor at Carleton University.

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