Contemporary left politics stems mostly from self-deprecation. The idolatry of the “other” is most of the times a sign of guilt and nausea against oneself. The political Right saw this clearly and turned itself into a spiritual liberator. The left used planet pollution to present humanity as a despicable species. It didn’t only make the “ego” and “subjectivity” responsible for wars and oppression, it turned into a despicable formation, calling for disintegration. Culture was not seen as inextricably bound to barbarism, but identical to it. The other was only instrumentalized to allow the West to process its guilt. The political right just denied everything: there is no climate change, there is no exploitation, there is no barbarism, there is no sexism or xenophobia. Just be a jerk, it’s ok, no guilt.
If we take the other seriously, it cannot be reduced to “absolute otherness”. Absolute otherness is the name for something that never reaches us, some mystery beyond our scope. But distance is never dangerous but proximity. Otherness is ambiguous. The neighbor might be more distant to you than someone coming from afar. The first crime in the Bible is fratricide. Cain kills his brother because he cannot understand how different they are before the eyes of God. So far, so close. So close, so far. When Spaniards arrived to America for the first time they were not confronted with simple, inexplicable otherness. They were amazed that humans could have flourished under different gods. This is why after intense discussions they were granted humanity, but at the same time, they were considerer inferior for lacking the word of the Christian world. They had another human in front, another creature of God, and yet… This “and yet” summarized the whole political problem of otherness.