I think cognitive dissonance is one of the great culprits of today's polarization and underlying violence in the world. I just had a very sad exchange here in Diaspora with someone who had so far behaved very politely in all our previous interactions, but resorted to name-calling and dismissive comments when faced with an idea that conflicts with his own practices.

This is just another example of a phenomenon I see very often, both out there in the world, as well as in the Internet. People are generally nice and decent to each other until they are confronted with an idea that puts them in a state of contradiction between what they do and what they believe. In other words, ideas with which they deep down agree with, but that stand in contrast to what their habits.

I think it's a shame, because the response is quite automatic, and therefore outside of most people's control. Yet, it has the very negative effect of distancing people away from each other, and of moving those affected by cognitive dissonance to extremes they would normally not be drawn into. However, such people often prefer to inhabit these extremes rather than confront the ideas that challenge their deeply ingrained habits. And what is worse, in these extremes they meet with other people who, for whatever reason, have also found themselves moved to such extremes. Once people find each other in these extremes, they comfort each other and tell each other it is OK to be in such extremes, further reinforcing a behavior that results in alienation from others with different world-views, and results in the creation of bubbles of thought, where the exchange of different ideas no longer becomes possible.

I wonder what is the solution for this. Perhaps practices like Mindfulness help, so that individuals can notice how they are alienating themselves. Unfortunately, Mindfulness practices are not for everyone, and often are incompatible with the modern way of life we have nowadays.

I'm interested in what you think are possible solutions to this conundrum

#thought #society #cognitiveDissonance #mindfulness #empathy #humanity

I have been thinking about what happened in the Capitol very much recently. I have been thinking about what is happening in the world, and I feel we are going about this the wrong way.

My take on this:

We shouldn't forget that Trump received millions of votes, more than most presidential candidates in the history of the US.
Of course, in an ideal world, we would just snap our fingers and hope the Trump supporters realize the stupidity of their actions...
But in the real world, things are not so simple.

I once heard a journalist, talking about the prison problem, saying: "If there is one thing we know for certain from people who are currently in jail, is that, with the exceptions of those who will die inside, everyone who is in jail will eventually come out. How do we deal with that, as a society?"

I think a similar problem applies to this current divide in the US, and in the world in general.
Yes, we can make sure those who assaulted the capitol loose their jobs, pay fines, etc, etc...
But they are still here.
They are still members of society.
And their opinions and political stances are unlikely to change because of the backlash some of them are receiving for their actions.
Maybe even the opposite. This will just reinforce their ideas about them being the victims.

So what to do, then?

Here, I turn to the conclusion that humans arrived at thousands of years ago: It's all about compassion and empathy.
We have forgotten the skill to imagine ourselves in someone else's shoes.
The people from the alt-right, Q-Anon, and similar ideologies are not the rich 1%. They are working class people.
And there is some truth to their complaints.
The system is corrupt.
Politicians do lie.
And they are, just as any other citizen, victims of a system that exploits them.

Of course, the conclusions they arrive at, based on these premises, are completely wrong and misguided. But I feel that shouting in their face that they are wrong, calling them names, ostracizing them and trying to cancel them as valid members of society is not the solution. Because, just as prison inmates, they are sill part of society, whether we like it or not.

We shouldn't judge. We don't know the circumstances that led them to believe what they believe.
We have to change minds with kindness, with our heart.
It might make us feel good to yell at someone how wrong they are. It makes us feel we are on the right side of history.
But what does that accomplish, really?
The world is becoming more and more divided, and that is bad for all parties.

So, next time you encounter one of these people. Don't put your boot on their face.
Don't use pure, logical reason to try to convince them they are wrong.
Just try to empathize.
Try to imagine the life circumstances that led them to the place they are at.

In the end, we all want the same thing.
We want to live in peace. Happily.
We want to love and be loved ❤

We should always strive to be excellent to each other, as the motto of our dear social network reminds us.
Regardless of sex, color, and political orientation.

So, friends. Please keep this request in mind.
More love, less hate.
More compassion, less recrimination.
More open arms, less tuning of our backs towards them.
More empathy, less judgement.

Love you all ❤ ❤ ❤

#love #beexcellentoeachother #nonviolence #politics #My2Cents #thought