Things are More Complex than they Seem on the Surface
The other day I saw a humorous sketch on Instagram with the point of view of two European mainlanders cringing at the idea of a Brit washing dishes and then putting them to drain without rinsing. As you'd probably expect there were a plenty of comments agreeing that this was gross, but I was surprised how many went to the extreme of saying that this just concludes that all Brits are disgusting, horrible people. And there I was wondering why people still go to war against each other. I guess if people can villainise an entire nation on how they think they all wash their dishes I guess we have no hope of a war free world. Of course the likelihood is that they aren't actually villainising a country on how their dishes are washed, but rather using that as another reason to dislike a people they already dislike. However, it illustrates how easy it is for leaders of a country wanting to go to war to rally their people against an enemy.
People have a propensity to simplify. In this way if a problem exists then they want a simple solution to fix it, but when it comes down to it, few problems have a simple fix. Recently there was a conversation on Instagram about whether transgender women actually had any real advantage at competetive levels in all sports. Someone pointed out that regardless of your gender, you still can't make competitive sports fair for all because so many other factors play a part in what you can achieve like money and genetics. I liked the comment and gave a tongue in cheek response of: "it's almost like life isn't fair." I got a response to that comment from someone saying that life would absolutely be fair if we got rid of racism. Initially I'd thought maybe she was responding to someone else and I'd been tagged accidently, but she then added another comment saying that as I was white I also needed to check my privilege.
One would think it would be glaringly obvious that getting rid of racism wouldn't make life fair for everyone when the conversation itself wasn't even about racial discrimination in the first place, but if combating racism is her cause then I guess a little bit of mental gymnastics would be all that is needed to attribute every injustice to racism. By only having one problem to solve all problems it makes a solution much simpler and either makes you feel like you can do something about it or puts the problem somewhere outside of your control so you can blame that and not do anything to help yourself. Making assumptions about others also helps because you can then pigeon hole them all into 'bad' on one attribute alone. That's so much easier than weighing up the balance of all their attributes, deeds and experiences, just disregard the fact that judging someone on their skin tone is in fact counterintuitive to an anti-racism cause.
I find the saying: "The more you learn the less you know" quite appropriate. In my younger years it was easy to form opinions, convictions and beliefs from what I knew and from the sources available. As I've gained more life experience and met more people from across the world and from different demographics I realise that things aren't that simple. We can't know what is going on in someone else's mind or what their lived experiences have been. Different cultures have different ways of doing things which aren't wrong or right merely normal to them. We can't help making snap judgements of others from the societal norms we experience around us, but I've learnt to take the approach of waiting to hear why someone behaves the way they do before forming an opinion, even if I don't agree with it. I can choose where my own moral compass sits, but I can't make that choice for others. If the way they do things and what they believe brings no harm to others then what does it matter if it's not the same as my approach?
We have a tendency to believe the things that we want to believe, even if it isn't realistic. Therefore we will use whatever evidence we can bolster that belief. This very often plays into the hands of those in power when they want war. If they can blame all the country's problems on one group of people and make their people believe that wiping them out will solve those problems then people will jump to that cause. But the reality is that a country's problems can't be solved by a single solution and no matter what solutions are implemented you can only really try to balance things to try and get the best outcomes with the least harm caused for as many people as possible, a concept that is not palatable when we want a simple, 'one size fits all' solution. It's also not a comfortable concept that two contradicting seeming things can both be correct and incorrect at once. I have known people to get aggressive when this is pointed out.
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Something I try to do is listen to viewpoints from both sides of a story or debate, even if I don't agree with them, which isn't always easy. I'd rather listen to someone talking about things from the viewpoint I agree with, but that's not always helpful in understanding things fully and certainly doesn't help to implement solutions.
They say you shouldn't judge a book by its cover or a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes and this is so accurate. Some of the best people I've met are those who are often dismissed by society and some of the most judgemental people are those who are considered upstanding. Often those who loudly profess to be virtous, caring and inclusive or champions for a cause will surprise me that they are less accomodating than their claims would profess them to be if someone doesn't meet the critia they want. It's the quieter ones who don't shout about their good deeds who are more likely to keep an open mind.
If you want to claim superiority then don't be surprised when you get push back from those you deem inferior.
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Sometimes the question I tend to ask myself is the fact that, can we actually get rid of racism completely?
I don't think it is in our basic human nature to be able to do so.
Hello, @minismallholding
Prejudices depend on which side of the scale you're on. Yes, if your skin is jet black or as white as Arctic snow. But when your skin falls somewhere in between, being of mixed race, you face a dilemma from the center. Then, one wonders which perspective to embrace.
In my opinion, ethnic differences shouldn't be the subject of conflict in the pursuit of supremacy. They are simply natural trials for biological adjustments to environmental changes. So, falling into negative diatribes and hatred because of them is nonsense, and at best, ignorance.
Now, as you rightly say, things are more complex than they seem when one doesn't break down the barriers of that ignorance. I see more similarities between us than differences. I understand the powerful influence of the supposed diversity of customs, a product of human expansion, but it's also very true that the essence that characterizes us all survives.
This is a fascinating subject that we have made complex on our journey through the world.
Spiritual leaders throughout history have taught, each according to their own circumstances, simple solutions to the real problems that afflict us. But most freely choose to follow the opposite path, or simply turn a blind eye.
In any case, I believe that, regardless of our role in society, personal redemption is forged in the solitude of the individual who becomes aware of how deeply interconnected we all are, and that the enemy to be conquered is the ego, and the ultimate reward is the humility practiced through love.
Greetings.
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I'm glad you brought this up, because this is something I was actually thinking as I wrote. We are one race after all and our differences are miniscule compared to our similarities. Yet our tribal nature often makes us focus more on our differences. I guess skin colour is just an easier way to quickly see a difference making it easier to classify someone as 'not one of us'.
As our ability to connect with more and more people expands we will inevitably encounter more differences, but we also have the opportunity to recognise how much we have in common. It's up to us to choose how we wish to view things.
I couldn't agree with you more. I know that I am quite idealistic, but I trust that at some point, a higher consciousness will prevail that allows people to make correct and good decisions that eradicate any type of prejudices centered on differences.
Just like a mechanical system, the more moving parts that become added, the more complicated it all is.
We are at a point where we have some many niche sub cultures and positions (not to be confused with beliefs) that society does not have a single answer to the same problems we've faced as a species.
Different answers, different positions have different levels of effectiveness, but on that topic, everyone's goals are different.
I try to simple just remove myself from anything that doesnt add intellectual rigour or value, or in turn, expose my own ignorance.
As ever, one's actions speak louder than the words they proclaim.
An apt comparison. The smaller the tribe the simpler cohesion is, the fewer the problems and the simpler the solutions.
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Ahh the dopamine hit of "everyone" agreeing with you.
My mother in law does this and it does my head in XD
but at the same time I'm not going to complain if she wants to help with the dishes, and she doesn't complain when I help with her dishes even if she thinks I'm wasting water when rinsing them
Most problems are actually compound problems, if they could be broken down into their component problems it might be easier. The problem with problems is that due to compounding the simple fixes have this bad habit of clashing (fixes for some problems clash with fixes for other problems and then cause more problems aaaaargh).
This is a lot of the reason why I don't talk to anyone about anything anymore. Also because they also think I'm getting "aggressive" because I had the audacity to change tone/raise my voice (but the same never ever applies to them, they're just "passionate", Youngest is the worst for this). Over here I used to check comment history (once I found out that I could) to see if they were "worth" engaging with (ie would be fun to talk to/learn from even if we were never going to agree on a topic) but now I'm probably missing out on a lot of interesting conversations because even if I start typing a reply I'm about 97% more likely to choose to not engage based on extremely little information as my time management has always been rubbish and I'm usually procrastinating something else I'm meant to be doing when I'm here x_x (I otherwise have a loosely set hive time in the morning and will use it as filler when I unexpectedly have a gap too small for anything else)
This was one of the earlier things my dad tried to teach me that I didn't get for ages. I told Youngest that I try to do this because when you get everyone's perception of what happened you can work out what actually happened from the average of what they said and he decided that was stupid and only the person/group who was the "most believable" should be believed.
From having been online for most of my life now I can safely say (in agreement with a friend who articulated it for me in some vaguely related discussion we were having whenever that was), the people whe scream the loudest about this kind of stuff are usually the worst offenders XD It's a near-guarantee that the person who proudly proclaims I HATE DRAMA NO DRAMA ALLOWED ON MY PAGE are the ones starting/instigating/in the thick of everything.
I have to ask if there's a specific event (I am amazing at missing everything as I don't pay attention to news x_x) that has triggered three posts from three different people in my feed over the last two days or if you all just happened to catch the same wave :)
🤣 I'm pretty sure I was raised with not rinsing, but I don't think we had second sinks then in order to rinse. At some point the idea of soap residue on things I'm eating and drinking from didn't sit right with me, though.
This reminds me of a conversation I had with my sister the last time we managed to chat, although that was more along the lines of problems we see arising from a multitude of causes that we may not be able to see all of.
I was about to just select a sentence and respond to that, but it's all so familiar I would be just be repeating what you wrote. 🤣 I don't even have to change my tone of voice and am in fact quite careful about maintaining a calm, none defensive sounding one in order to try and sound like I'm not attacking (doesn't always work and I have to then reassure that I'm not attacking at all).
The joys and simplicity of youth and lack of experience. There was a time when I would have agreed with him, then more life happened. I rather like those stories where you have the events that transpired and can't imagine how the other party could be seen as anything but bad, then they explain the events leading up to it from the other side and you understand that they took the best course of action in the given circumstances.
Now I'm curious, please point me in the direction of these others. 😁 This has actually been something I've been mulling over and writing bits on for a while and was first started by a conversation had last year with one of those drama people you mention. Conversations I now realise are pointless having, because the aim seems to be drama rather than debate.
I grew up somewhere pretty water rich (rains half the year) so grew up never thinking about resource usage/wastage and got taught to just run the water when doing the dishes. My parents have long since renovated the kitchen so there is a second sink now but still wash dishes in the same way, and on my many lazy days I will still do that here x_x
Yes this too!
I think some people are just desperate for a fight/any excuse to feel "oppressed" and some people are so incredibly hypersensitive they assume anything and everything that isn't 100% complete agreement with them is an obvious and vicious and malicious attack.
Same XD
Taraz with Integration into Dysfunction and hanshotfirst with I Like Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. You Like Strawberry. Cool.. I'm guessing it's a wavelength rather than anything specific now XD
Oof sadly that's something we usually have to find out the hard way x_x
@ryivhnn...
BAHAHAHAHAHAHA more of that would be nice XD
@minismallholding...
Another would be:
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I like both of them, they are very pertinent. Everything in life is a balance, as much as we'd like to draw a nice, neat line between good and bad.
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