Aha!
I had written a whole article on how to create a universal worldview for change and I couldn't tell you why exactly but I absolutely hated it - which is why I didn't publish it. Now I know why I hated it.
I had the wrong approach,
kind of.
But Seth Godin cleared things up for me in his rant on
change junkies in his book
Small is the New Big.
Its all too simple really!
Its all about getting people used to change! (duh)
Its actually not simply about change but more so about diversification, which in turn accustoms change.
So how do we do it?
First off, you have to start small, like with anything else in life.
Those that have the hardest time adapting to change are those who do the same things everyday, listen to the same few genres of music, always eat the same food and at the same restaurants.
They never (or rarely) do or try anything different.
Thus when something eccentric comes along, they aren't used to it. Their mind doesn't know how to adapt, so they get frightened and reject the idea. They're used to the old way and they like it.
In cities theres a lot of diversity. Different races, different kinds of restaurants on almost every street, its all one big clash of strangers having to interact with one an other.
Thats why you would find denser populations of liberals within cities. The city nearly forces them to be eccentric. The mindset is automatically created from their environment.
Though, we do still find segregation within cities. Perhaps its because these segregated folks only see the same people at the same places, doing the same things and essentially isolate themselves from society from the fear of trying something new.
The thing is that each time you are exposed to something, you become more familiar with it, thus it becomes easier to accept and perhaps even enjoy.
For example as a child I hated spinach, though I had to eat it. I didn't eat much of it at a time, though just enough to get the taste for it, but not too much that would have affiliated spinach with a radical negative emotion. Today I can say I enjoy eating spinach, at least much more than I used to.
Change, like everything in life, comes in small doses.
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Theres many advantages to diversification.
For one you get to look at several different options, judge for youself and choose which ever option suits you best, your ideal objective (yet really subjective) choice.
Also I believe its crucial to diversify in this day in age since the near future promises so much change, already, as your reading this, things are changing at an
exponential rate.
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So my solution to become (more so) accustomed to change:
Diversify everyday little things in your life. Even try things that you don't like!
Start small, for example (some examples taken from
Godin):
- Each week try a new type of food, or go to a restaurant you've never been
- Listen to an album from a genre of music you normally wouldn't listen to
- Take a new route to work
- Pickup a magazine from a topic you aren't familiar with
- Meet with people outside of your expertise
At the moment I am trying to eat mushrooms (not the psychedelic ones, though I have tried those to) every week.
Im also going to download some songs by Bruce Springsteen since I haven't really liked him in the past, though many of my friends think hes a god.
Actually last year I chose golf as my gym class because before that I hated golf. I had told myself maybe if I force myself to like it I will, and you know what, golf isn't all that bad, maybe I'll hit up the driving range sometime this summer.
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What im most concerned about are conservatives and organized religions, which essentially are the same. Although you can find religious folks that diversify, but they are just confused and came to a conclusion, mostly because others have already accepted it for them, but thats a rant for an other time.
I don't get conservatives. Dont they get that their title, by definition, is against human progression? Dont they want to make this world a better place? They seem to be living in a dream world where everything is perfect as is already, which is the complete opposite of where the lifespan our specie is heading. The world is far from perfect.
One might argue that error is human, or that human is error, sure that's true at the moment, but with global warming and our specie on its way to extinction, that's an ignorant answer.
Anyways I don't think ignorance means anything to conservatives, they always seem to miss the point.
What conservatives need is a little eccentricity in their lives.
Blacks, asians, mexicans, europeans and middle-easterns need to move in with them. That would give them a little bit of perspective.
An other issue here is those living in Pakistan and in those surrounding areas where media is censored by their government.
I think censorship should be illigal.
In my post Micky Mouse with AK47s you can see what these people are brought up with.
What you see is what you get.
Ignorace was Bliss - Victor Mancini
