The world needs more dialogue and less polarization

     Never before has the person who stated an idea mattered more than the idea itself. Divisions have always existed in society, but we are probably living in one of the most polarized periods mankind has witnessed. A hyper-connected world has only helped increase polarized narratives fuel cognitive biases all over the world. Today what we see as public outcries or distressing events in many parts of the world are merely symptoms of deep-rooted mindsets that view not just leaders but everyday people around as unidimensional ideologists.

    It is exactly this unidimensional branding of countries, political parties, leaders and people like you and me that needs to be stopped immediately. We need to start embracing a less absolute way of looking at issues. It is not always black or white, right or left in everyday life no matter which country, religion or political party you wish to support. A less absolute way of thinking does not mean indecisiveness, it would rather mean being more decisive without harboring philosophies or ideologies but rather being more objective about the issue at hand.

    We do not have to go too far in the past for some good examples how society gets polarized and suffers due to such myopic thinking. Just take the example of the early days of Covid-19 in February when China was completely locking down Wuhan and their Hubei province whereas the President of the United States instead of closing down the borders and taking stringent social distancing measures did the exact opposite of that just because he would agree with Chinese ideas. Closer home in India, some outstanding farm reform bills were introduced by a hardliner government which was rebuffed by a few large agricultural states where this government had a low support base.

    In both these examples we can see how the myopic decision making and the behavior manifestation that happened. Fundamentally, people of either side had their minds completely shut on what the idea conveyed means. Instead an inordinate focus is placed on who stated the idea and since an already polarized mind analyses it, the potential flaws in the idea get amplified and results in a complete inability to evaluate the idea objectively. We all know what happened subsequently and the suboptimal outcomes that the society has had. Instead of having a “well begun is half-done” situation the US is still reeling as the worst affected nation in the world and meanwhile the Indian agrarian economy cannot hope for the much needed reforms for quite some time to come at the very least.

    Narratives around the world continue to navigate from the extreme left to the extreme right and we see more and distressing events and outcomes just because each camp feels they are more correct than the other. Even social media that is typically expected to bring people closer to each other is now full of hate speech and is amplifying divisions ever so much more.

     In life matters, often we know that situations and ideas are not always absolute black and white but are rather shades of grey. Instead of focusing why the other side is so very wrong we need a spirit of separating the idea from the person and embrace more objectivity. An ideology of always being right or always being left prevents us from taking the right decision for the right matters not being worried about your right / left leaning. And this is exactly what will open us up to more acceptance of different views, more dialogue and more harmony.