They're BUGGERS!

If you’ve read Ender’s Game (or even better, Ender’s Shadow, since I relate to Bean more than Ender), you get this blasphemous reference. Or, if you’re my boyfriend who claims to have read both but can’t remember what Buggers are even though I’ve reminded him half a dozen times, you don’t get it. (sorry baby, love you!)

Regardless, in Card’s work, the Buggers are basically another species with a collective consciousness, that consciousness being that of the queen bugger. In the human’s war against the buggers, they come to understand that this different way of thinking leads to different battle tactics and choices (and I’ll stop there to avoid spoiling a great read).

I’ve had a number of times where I’ll be trying to explain something to someone back home and they’ll eventually ask me, “well, why would they do that?!” and exasperated over not knowing how to further convey things, I’ll declare, “I don’t know! They’re buggers!”

This is obviously a brash and completely unfair comparison since in the novel they are considered the enemy of humanity, but there is something to be said about the analogy collective identity.

The concept of social responsibility is somehow different here, and also pretty nuanced such that I can’t simply say, “everything is everyone’s problem” because….it’s not. There’s a different sense of what is and isn’t your problem and other people’s problems and when any transfer of problem solving occurs.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to explore this as much as I might like because of the language barrier, I can’t sit down and talk with people and see what they talk about or eavesdrop on the bus, etc.

I also think my experiences with this are slightly different than it may be for permanent members of the community, it would make sense to me for there to be a sense of “here is this foreigner that doesn’t know how things work, we have to help her.”

In general though, there seems to be a sense of “everyone has a place, and everyone in their place” thus, if there is any deviation from this, it becomes the community’s responsibility to return things to their natural order.

What’s interesting is that I guess, in my mind, the idea of interdependence is somehow related to a sharing of responsibilities; you do all you can, and if the other person doesn’t also, well then, too bad, not your problem. It’s somehow different here. If someone becomes involved in a situation of yours for any variety of reasons, they also assume full responsibility for it. That’s a bit of a generalization, but still interesting to consider.

When I first got here, the community-centric perspective was tangibly obvious, and at first, I was somewhat taken aback. I felt a bit as if people were putting on faces in public. It was so important to appear a certain way. So important to save social face. You did things to preserve your family’s honor and respect in the community.

This mostly puzzled me, but also bothered me slightly. In a way, I felt like people should do things for themselves. It seemed artificial to do things so as to project a certain and calculated public image. In a way, it even seemed….deceitful. (although we do that in the States don’t we. Except we project a self-image rather than a family image, and even that is arguable given the number of times my mom has attempted to dissuade my behavior on the premise that I was making her look bad, not that I cared much, and not that that concept is as prevalent in the States as it is here).

I’m aware that my thoughts on the matter have changed since I “look back on” them and have to make a conscious effort to remember my original perceptions. I think my stance now is along the lines of having a greater appreciation for it as a means of maintaining social order, which can actually be REALLY efficient if you’re optimizing for the community as a whole.

The next two blogs give some of my further thoughts on the matter through some examples.