17No More Binary Thinking
The first thing we have to do as we approach the communicate part of the framework is to rid ourselves of the binary way of thinking, which I notice many systems today promote. You have to choose this or that, and if you choose that, you're an enemy of this. There's no room for nuance, it seems. This puts up invisible walls and barriers before we get to know others.
As discussed previously, we live in a world of nuance governed by binary systems. We promote a culture of debate and division without critical thinking. I am not saying debate isn't good. My friends will tell you that I love debate as much as the next person. What I'm talking about here is when we debate things we don't fully understand. I see this a lot on TV, whether it's sports or politics. A lot of what I see seems to be the promotion of caricatures, generalities, and stereotypes instead of individuality and intersectionality. All you need to say is a trigger word, and boom—all gloves are off. Some people know this and use it to rile people up in order to perpetuate certain narratives, and others feel like they can't say anything because they risk offending others. I fear that we are promoting an us-versus-them narrative instead of an us-with-them narrative. That's why we get into the bad habit of viewing states, countries, cities, and nationalities as having one personality. “Oh, you're from here, so you must be this.” “You look like that? There's no way you'll understand this.” “That's ...