What does a Divided Country Do Now?
Our Country has now elected the 45th President of the United States. In the eyes of many this has been a very emotional and lengthy process. A process that has ended in the way our democracy was designed. However, it has highlighted the very high degree of practical and philosophical differences among the people in our nation.
How will this event affect the fears, hopes and dreams of individual citizens in this great country? Those individual fears, hopes and dreams will vary. They will vary because each of us are a product of unique environments and unique experiences.
Environments that consisted primarily of the homes we grew up in, and those learned behaviors we developed. The neighborhoods we grew up in and the people living there that were a constant influence on our view of what the world would look like. The cultural traits
we developed based on the traditions, practices, celebrations, etc., that we were exposed to as we grew up. The combination of those environments: home, neighborhood and culture play such a significant role in our beliefs, biases and filters. Those environments not only shape our view of others; they also help shape our individual beliefs, biases and filters of how we view situations and events.
Experiences, just like our environments, add to our unique individual beliefs, biases and filters regarding our views of others; our views of situations; and our views of events. Some of our most influential experiences include historical events we incur; our educational backgrounds; spiritual practices, social exposure; and media influence.
When you begin to think about your specific early environment and your experiences as they relate to your view of what the world would be, or should be, what do you see?
Sometimes what we see is driven so strongly by the effects of our unique early environments and experiences that we can develop unconscious (implicit) biases. Implicit biases can cause us to hold beliefs about others, events and situations that may, or may not, be based on fact or reality. So, what does all of this mean as it relates to the title of this blog, “What does a divided country do now?” Part of the answer is not that complicated.
Those implicit biases we developed through our early environments and our unique experiences have a tremendous effect on how we individually view and react to the results of the Presidential election. Understanding our individual implicit biases will help us better understand our emotion, or logic, regarding the election results.
Understanding these implicit biases doesn’t mean that we agree, or disagree, with the election results. Understanding these implicit biases simply allows us to better understand ourselves. That understanding will help you relate to those with opposing views and beliefs. It doesn’t matter if it is this election or any other matter of disagreement.
Turning our unconscious bias into conscious thought is a major solution to:
Turning divisiveness into consideration
Turning dispute into constructive disagreement
Turning rude behavior into respect for the views, biases and filters of others
Turning argument into constructive discussion
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