One of the biggest issues we face today is the lack of nuance. Over and over again I’ve shared the idea that we don’t live in a dichotomy, but we keep being pushed to the extremes. Here are some post excerpts:
‘Abnormally Normal’ – “But the new normal is not normal. The dichotomy of politics, the hatred between religious extremists, the focus on vengeance and public shaming in social media, police violence against citizens, the inability to share middle-ground opinions without fear of being ‘othered’ by both sides of the political dichotomy… it’s like we’ve slipped into a dystopian movie, and we are left wondering if this is real life?”
‘My one ’ism’ – “My one ‘ism’ is pluralism… We want to live, thrive, and love in a pluralistic society. We just need to recognize that in such a society we must be tolerant and accepting of opposing views, unaccepting of hateful and hurtful acts, and smart enough to understand the difference.”
‘Ideas on a Spectrum’ – “In a civil society, dialogue is the one problem-solving strategy that should be sacred. To do this, free speech is essential. But right now there is a culture of ‘attack the opposition’ that is very scary.”
‘Shades of grey’ – “Just a simple reminder that we don’t live in a dichotomy. The world isn’t either black or white. Most ideas sit somewhere in between.”
I’m guilty of it myself.
I ranted about annoying requests for customer service surveys, but most customer service is good and on average better than in the past.
I complained about an increase in unrealistic parent demands, but the vast majority of parents do a great job.
The reality is that we tend to focus on the extremes and social media algorithms feed this focus ferociously. So, that’s where our attention goes.
I’m going to make a concerted effort to pay attention to nuance in the coming weeks… I’m going to wholeheartedly focus on subtleties and on noticing variances in views and opinions, rather than seeking out the extremes. I feel like this is going to be harder than expected, but I’ll give it a try.
