Typically, when I read anything, I am in a “no thoughts, head empty” state. I focus on what I’m reading, and just go with the flow of the writing. This helps me have fun reading, as I truly focus on the novel. However, my mind sometimes wanders. I start to stop reading, and go off on mini-tangents in my mind.

As I was reading the graphic novel, “They Called Us Enemy”, I began to think about the concepts of the novel itself. Why were the Japanese Americans being discriminated against in the first place? Well, it would be because the Americans were at war with the Japanese. This would naturally be the first response. Well, what does that have to do with internment camps, and basically total destruction of the lives the Japanese Americans built?

I realized that people tend to assume things of other people, especially when a seed of thought has been planted. For example, when you are walking in a dark alleyway at night, and you see someone in a hood with their head down behind you, you would naturally feel afraid. Even though they have done nothing aggressive, it triggers a signal in your mind to be afraid.

Similar logic can be applied to the situation of the Japanese Americans during WWII. The Americans were afraid of the Japanese Americans in their country, not because of what they had done wrong, but because of the fear of what they could have done wrong. They assumed that it would have been very likely for the Japanese Americans to create some kind of tragedy, simply due to their nationality. Logically, it makes no sense, they would have had an equal chance of doing some kind of espionage or illicit activities even before Pearl Harbor was bombed. It was only now, due to someone else’s actions, that they could relate a bad thing to the Japanese Americans.

When I was listening to a podcast about Isamu Noguchi’s “Play Mountain”, I heard that he had once entered an internment camp with the goal of altering the structure. He wanted to make it more “Play-friendly,” however his plan did not work out.

Upon entering the camp, Noguchi was discriminated against due to the people’s assumptions of him. The guards simply assumed he was another prisoner, and treated him with general indifference. The Japanese Americans in the camp did not treat him friendly either. They treated him as a “traitor” due to his special privileges in the camp. They simply assumed that he sold them out in some way, just because of his special privileges.

Now should be the time I tie in the title to this article. This theme can also be related to a certain video game called “Among Us.” This is because although there is some logic and thinking behind each accusation in this mafia-like game, many other things can affect the accusation. For example, colors that represent certain meanings, white representing pureness, yellow representing betrayal, and other typical primary colors. But besides the historical and psychological meanings of colors, there are also seeds the game plants in your brain.

The Red Crewmate has become a poster-child of the game. Often portrayed as the impostor in many promotional images, one may find themselves unconsciously accusing the Red Crewmate for no good reason. These advertisements prime your brain to believe that the Red Crewmate is suspicious, whether he really is or not.

Everything I’ve said tells us a couple things. Firstly, people typically associate prior experiences with current people and things. They project their own experiences onto other people, and make assumptions. Just like with the Japanese Americans as you would to the Red Crewmate, although all differing in magnitude. Secondly, a lot of people are not as they seem to be, as the example with Noguchi showed. Although he was a Japanese American, he was not a bad person, as with many people in the internment camps at the time.

It is intrinsically hard to put away prior experiences when dealing with current people, but it would certainly be for the best, for you and the other party, to put aside prior experiences when dealing with a new person. You could be making a new friend, or even a romantic relationship, if you were to just put aside your prejudice.