As you may already know, every month we read a book for our “Problem Solver Book Club.” This month we are reading the book “The Four Agreements” by Miguel Ruiz.
One of the interesting points made in the beginning of this book focuses on the desire to please others as being such a strong part of the human condition that we often are willing to go against our core values just to do it. There are countless examples of people pretending to be something they are not just to fit in with a group (for example fraternity hazing rituals, or nearly any human atrocity in history). Fear of being rejected by a group is a force to reckon with.
Of course this desire to fit in has been ingrained in us as a survival mechanism. Over tens of thousands of years, the more likely we were to fit into tribes, the better chance we had of long-term survival and procreation. Being a loner in the past was a dangerous path to take, and being exiled from a kingdom or tribe often meant certain death.
The downside of this survival mechanism though is that our overwhelming desire to please others and fit in with the group makes us easy to manipulate by people who know how to control groups. Right now - we’d argue - this phenomena seems to be the root cause of our current culture war. Many of us seem to be agreeing with principles and philosophies that even just five short years ago most of us would have seen as outlandish and ridiculous.
Why do so many people seem to be subverting their core tenets to fit in with their groups? Is there a way to reverse this trend?
We believe that the first step is realizing that this is not happening by accident. We are allowing our culture to be set by colluding powerful interests. The goals of these monoliths such as DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) are often thinly veiled rhetoric that often leads to the exact opposite of their stated agendas when it comes to results. The same seems to be true of the corporations setting goals for things like climate control, health, energy, and more. When we dive deep into these results we see something strange. Rather than having a profound effect on their stated goals, these cultural changes and regulations are actually being used as weapons to squash corporate competition, and gain control over large populations of people.
Like we always stress, all of our policies should be based on results. Results matter most. Yet we continue to let fluffy sounding wordplay entice us into making policies or setting cultures that cause more harm than good for our society, and only benefit a few.
In a healthy society we the people should be part of setting our own culture and making our own regulations. There should be open debates, vigorous discussions, open “idea labs” (such as mentioned in Tim Urban’s new book), and spirited discourse. Right now all of our “culture” seems to be coming from Wall Street media companies, elitist think tanks like the WEF, and politicians who are not including the people in on the discussions. We are being presented with a problem AND force-fed the solution, instead of being invited to be part of the solution-making process.
The first step in fixing this is to drown out the noise of the current corporate culture cheerleaders and mouthpieces, and instead set the cultural norms for ourselves. But this is harder than it sounds with so many chirping voices.
We need to refocus our efforts. We need to be part of the process of setting our own culture. Klaus Schwab was right when he said “We need to define the world we want to see.” It just can’t be the one he wants to see. This is why offering alternatives to the doom and gloom corporate narrative - for example like what Dr. Jordan Peterson is trying to do by offering the opposite of the WEF and their vision - is so critical for the future of humanity.
All of society is built on top of culture. If we are not proud of our culture then we will not build society with pride.
Furthermore, technology nearly always follows culture, not vice versa. For example, at the end of the 1800s the culture changed from “The Wild West” to “Cleanliness is Next to Godliness.” From that culture some of the best innovations of all time for humanity were spawned: running water, sewers, waste disposal, and more.
We need a new “Cleanliness is Next To Godliness” culture change, but we cannot let the draconian corporations set it for us.
This is something we should all sit down and discuss together - without the noise of corporate America trying to steer us. Below are just a few cultural ideas we think are better than the way we are currently heading.
Transparency is The Kryptonite for Corruption. (here)
Let's Build a 4th Branch of Government -100% Run by the People (here)
Decentralization of Power is the best path to a Post Scarcity World. (here)
Collaboration Is The Most Powerful Force On Earth. (here)
Direct Democracy is the antidote for Corrupt Tyranny. (here)
Escape from Their Systems By Making Our Own. (here)
Unify Against Our Biggest Problem: Corruption. (here)
Let’s Make A Parallel Digital Democracy, Together. (here)
All of these would be better options than the current cultural path we are allowing to be installed - one of divisiveness, one without results, and one that we the people are not included in on as part of the solution-making process.
Thanks for reading!
Do you hunger for solutions?
As always the entire purpose of this is to connect with other solutions-minded people like yourself! For 4 billion years on this planet there were only single-celled organisms. Then one day they somehow learned to work together and make complex multi-celled creatures like you and me. Right now we are like those single-celled organisms. Our next evolution is finding how to work together, better (like we wrote about here).
If you enjoyed this explore some other awesome topics with us such as the articles here, here, and here.
COMMENTS ARE FOR EVERYONE AS A PLACE TO THINK TANK SOLUTIONS. They will never be for paid-only subscribers and we will never charge a subscription.
#KillCorruption #UnifyAgainstCorruption #ResultsMatterMost #DecentralizeEverything #DemandTransparency
I like that you point out the "pleasing of others as a strong part of the human condition". It has truly been at the root of much evil throughout history. Raising strong minded children is the most effective thing we can do. Be the role model they need, do not let it fall to corrupt professors.
Thank you for bringing attention to the Jordan Peterson initiative.
I found the best way to understand Peterson's intention to combat the WEF is through his Joe Rogan interview.
Frankly I found the Citizen Frank link so polluted with click bait it was intolerable.