Fast Frames – Mindsets and Movements: Otherism

The idea that there is an us and a them is all around us. Whether we’re hearing harmful rhetoric about a “flood of migrants” or a well-intentioned initiative to “help the needy,” our exposure to othering messages and narratives has deeply entrenched us vs. them thinking in U.S. culture.

The good news is: our communications can activate more collective ways of thinking that highlight our inherent interconnectedness—not our constructed divides.

If we want to counter otherism, we need to be intentional about the framing choices we make. Even things like pronouns—“we” and “us” instead of “they” and “them”—can make a big difference in how people receive the information we’re sharing.

In this episode of Fast Frames: Mindsets and Movements, you’ll find three helpful reframes we’ve learned from 25 years of research.