The Perspective Challenge Manifesto

  • February 05th 2:00PM
  • Daniel Ravner
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#ThePerspectiveChallenge

Share an article representing an opinion different from your own. One that made you think. Tag three friends who are as open-minded as you are.

 

Here is Why

 

While the web was meant to broaden our horizons, the opposite has happened. On social media, we engage with people who are just like us; we read news outlets that agree with our opinions to begin with, and our search results are personalized. We are constantly justified in our views, and the exact same thing happens to those who think differently from us.

Hence polarization. Hence growing extreme. Hence the current political discourse. Hence the fear.

We fear what we don’t understand and, right now, half the world doesn’t understand the other half.

Getting to know what the other side thinks is not just a nice idea. It’s our path forward. It doesn’t mean you agree with them, it means that you move beyond the obvious heard-it-before reasoning.

It means you realize that your core opinions are not just your thoughts but extensions of your identity, and thus challenging them is scary. You are not asked to change your opinion BTW, just be aware of how much emotion is part of your reasoning.

We have always surrounded ourselves with like-minded people, but the digital revolution has taken it to the extreme. This is its side effect, happening in full force, right now. In a world without filter bubbles, however, twice as much fake news would only do (much less than) half the damage as it is currently doing, because it wouldn’t have anywhere to reverberate.

So, be open-minded. And for that to mean something, you need to really see other perspectives that you are currently missing. After all, you can’t expect to influence anyone if you are not willing to be influenced yourself.

Look into your life, your relationship, your job. NOTHING is black or white. Why then do we try to reduce the most complicated issues on earth into simple opposing sound-bites?

Know that there is no one silver bullet argument that gets a person on your side. Change is a process, so aim to reduce wrongness, bit by bit, step by step.

The other option is to stay in our comfort zones, which are increasingly uncomfortable and forcing humanity apart.

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So, do something about it. Be the change. Join us in #ThePerspectiveChallenge

Share an article representing an opinion different from your own. One that made you think.  

Tag three friends who are as open-minded as you are. 

#ThePerspectiveChallenge #EscapeFilterBubbles #MakeUpYourOwnMind #BothSides

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“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”

                                                                                   Anaïs Nin

 

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

                                                                                    Margaret Mead

 

*Special thank you, Ariel Halevi, for the idea.

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