It\u2019s no secret that the United States is divided\u2014politically, economically, culturally. But the question is: Why?<\/p>\n
Historically, most Americans felt a great sense of pride in being part of this grand experiment. Sure, there were differences. Divergent opinions\u2014there\u2019s no doubt. Regardless, there was something in the American spirit that seemed to bring us all together (at least on the surface).<\/p>\n
So, what happened?<\/p>\n
Some like to point to COVID-19<\/a> as the culprit. Certainly, a worldwide pandemic can bring out the worst in people. Ever think you would hoard toilet paper? Many did!<\/p>\n But can we really single out the greedy behavior that comes to the fore during a seeming life-or-death struggle (even if that \u201cstruggle\u201d is real or imagined), as an indicator of a massive cultural shift? <\/p>\n Some kind of weird survival of the fittest behavior, maybe. But driver of a societal divide? I think not.<\/p>\n Others have suggested that the divides were always there and were just simmering under the surface. Probably some truth to that notion. But the country has made tremendous strides, especially in the last century, in creating opportunities for all of its citizens. <\/p>\n Can a deep-rooted sense of the differences between the \u201chaves\u201d and \u201chave-nots\u201d be the catalyst that has led to where we are today\u2014a place where Americans have completely lost their ability to \u201chear\u201d and understand an opposing point of view? Quite unlikely.<\/p>\n Still others believe that social media<\/a> is the motivating factor underpinning the situation.<\/p>\n It does enable anyone with access to a computer to have, and share, an opinion, including every radical, nihilist, and crackpot on the planet.<\/p>\n While social platforms certainly serve as accelerants, because their ability to enable their users to instantaneously send missives into the stratosphere without much (if any) effective guardrails to manage the risks that come with the dissemination of misinformation, they are merely a contributing factor to America\u2019s \u201cgreat divide.\u201d<\/p>\n None of these is the root cause of what we are going through at the moment.<\/p>\n It is my contention that it is the pursuit of certainty that is the source of our country\u2019s frustrating divide.<\/p>\n The Need for Certainty Has Seduced Us<\/p>\n In the past, Americans were quite comfortable with the idea that there were things a person might not know. It wasn\u2019t threatening to us, as individuals, to recognize that there are still things to learn. But today you cannot be wrong!<\/p>\n Yes, there is comfort in knowing. Scary things are less threatening when we think we know how they came to be.<\/p>\n But what if we are misinformed? What if the sources we turn to for insight are only presenting their side of the story? Worse, what if those sources are using fear<\/a> to influence us? What if they are presenting us with \u201cfacts\u201d that are intended to raise our ire? What if they want us to distrust<\/a> one another?<\/p>\n The fact is: Thinking is hard! It\u2019s not a relaxing exercise. But once you are certain about something, your brain can relax. So, we seek out sources that present us with facts that we can be certain about. In this way, we exert no critical thinking to \u201ctest\u201d the truths we are being provided. Rather, we accept what we are told. Indeed, we are certain.<\/p>\n And We Are Dumber<\/p>\n Clearly, this is lazy. However, it is identity<\/a>-strengthening. After all, we feel less alone when we signal who we are and others agree with us (and we get that little dopamine<\/a> rush that comes from believing we are smarter than we actually are).<\/p>\n The problem is, of course, that this way of operating is where confirmation bias<\/a> and identity politics<\/a> come from\u2014and Americans suffer from both in ways we never imagined possible.<\/p>\n Gone is the esprit de corps that once made America the envy<\/a> of the rest of the world, and, because we no longer think critically\u2014preferring, instead, to be fed \u201cinformation\u201d we can be \u201ccertain\u201d of\u2014we are dumber than ever before.<\/p>\n All of this behavior closes the door to learning. In fact, many of us can no longer \u201chear,\u201d let alone understand, a differing point of view.<\/p>\n In effect, a differing POV is seen as threatening. It triggers a \u201cfight or flight\u201d response in us. Many of us go into attack mode. We choose to vilify those who don\u2019t believe as we do. We resort to name-calling as we argue for our side\u2026or worse.<\/p>\n Surely, it\u2019s a scary thought that we might be wrong. We fear that we are losing our \u201cplace\u201d in the world. What happens to us if we believe in ways that are counter to the \u201cteam\u201d that we believe we are on? This kind of thinking is unreasonable, don\u2019t you think?<\/p>\n Over time, we become less intellectually curious. We lose the ability to reason. We become mentally dull.<\/p>\n What to Do<\/p>\n As a leadership<\/a> coach, I help clients resist the urge to take the easy way out, urging them, instead, to remain rationally astute. Here are some of the ideas that have aided clients in not falling prey to the allure of certainty:<\/p>\n Give your \u201ccontrarian muscle\u201d a workout. I\u2019m not suggesting that we become the epitome of a devil\u2019s advocate. But there is great value to be derived when we consider a different way to look at a set of circumstances\u2014and, more importantly, make the effort to discover additional facts that may help us to change our way of thinking about those conditions. In conclusion, let me suggest that while certainty is emotionally alluring, it is intellectually dangerous. As explained above, it \u201cdumbs\u201d us down and weakens our ability to think for ourselves\u2014a one-time virtue for many Americans. <\/p>\n That said: If you apply even one or two of these consistently, you\u2019ll begin to think more clearly again, and that can be precious\u2014especially in an epoch that requires us to make life choices among less-than-stellar options.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s no secret that the United States is divided\u2014politically, economically, culturally. But the question is: Why? Historically, most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-571629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nRecognize the difference between confidence<\/a> and certainty. There is a difference! Confidence is trust in oneself. The feeling of security comes from within. Certainty, on the other hand, is having the conviction that something is true. It comes from conflating a subjective truth into an objective one. The implication here is that one can be confident and still feel comfortable with uncertainty, and to be so should not make us doubt our identity.
\nBoost curiosity. This begins by routinely asking \u201cWhy?\u201d and \u201cHow?\u201d This is particularly important to do when presented with new \u201cfacts.\u201d Regardless of the source of the information, the habit helps us fine-tune our critical thinking. Additionally, reading widely and interacting with people with differing points of view (and actually listening to them to cultivate understanding) can expand our thinking and feed our curiosity about things we do not fully understand.<\/p>\n