How AUTISM Helped Me DEFY the Odds! (PERSONAL)

Featured ~ Donald "Nugget" Arteaga ~ Leave a comment

😲 I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH AUTISM!!! 😲

I use to consider myself a very introverted person, very shy, and very set in my own closed routines. I was more of a thinker than a doer and more a dreamer than a leader. Can you relate to that? If not, can you think of someone in your life who was like that? 🤔

Being diagnosed with Autism in 7th grade was probably the starting point for me, the point where I confirmed these ideas to myself about who I was: something was ‘wrong’ in my brain. 🧠 “I have Autism. It explains why I feel the way I feel. It’s just something that’s a part of me; I can’t change it.” 🤷‍♂️

But even at the time I remember feeling like I didn’t want to be labeled like this. I saw the label before me with all its negativity, a label I needed to object and rebel from. 👊 I saw the stigmas of this label becoming my reality, and once I started seeing it reflected in other people’s behaviors towards me it frightened me to the core! 😨

I have vivid memories from school where I refused to accept new accommodations because of the new label. I was now being offered additional time on tests, opportunities to leave class to ‘cool down’, and every single time I refused. I was being treated differently. I hadn’t changed, but with my new label I had changed in the eyes of everyone else. 😟 Has someone ever said something about you that you knew wasn’t true? Did you ever feel like you just wanted to jump on the defense and say: “That is absolutely NOT TRUE!” 🤬

With my new label I was constantly reminded about my new-given identity: what I couldn’t do, what my limitations were, and what struggles I’d have the rest of my life. 🔮 Very little was I ever reminded about all my current strengths or what I could do. It was mostly the echoes from a set of diagnostic criteria. 📖

In psychology, the term is referred to as a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. In sociology, it’s referred to as the Labeling Theory. To put it simply: If a person holds a belief in their mind about someone else’s future expectations, the person will unconsciously help in influencing the other person into fulfilling those expectations. 🤔

So for example, if a parent holds a child to very low expectations the odds are very likely the child won’t ever go past the ones the parent already set for them. They will only achieve the most minimal, the expectations set by the parent. 😲

SO FOR A LONG TIME I USE TO LET OTHERS DICTATE HOW I WAS GOING TO LIVE MY LIFE…😔

But then at one point I finally decided I was going on my own path. These past few years I’ve learned that everything starts with Me: I must take control of my life, how I choose to see it, and how I’m going to live it. 👍

📌 Dale Carnegie explained it through his principles to Win Friends and Influence People.

📌 Stephen Covey said it with his Habit of Being Proactive.

📌 The Stoics taught it through their principles of self-control.

📌 The Existentialists shared it through the creation of meanings.

📌 Individuals like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. excelled it through their example.

It’s the power of helping OURSELVES FIRST before we start trying to help the rest of the world. It’s about taking CONTROL over our emotions rather than letting them and our environment control us. It’s about living our lives for a PURPOSE greater than just ourselves. It’s about a “dream”, a vision of a greater future for all of humanity. Most importantly, it’s about YOU DEFINING YOUR LIFE. 🌎

What I’ve come to realize again and again is that my past does not have to equal the future. I’ve realized I am more capable than what any label or diagnosis will dictate. 🙌

Have you ever taken a personality test and it gave you a result you wholeheartedly believed in? “Congrats, you’re an INFJ!” The problem with these tests is they can tell you who you are NOW. But they don’t tell you who you’ll necessarily be in the FUTURE. We can change as well as mentally evolve. It’s a part of who I may be now, but it’s not the final destination! 🛣️

I’ve realized that I ultimately will define Me, not someone else, not a test, and not a set of diagnostic criteria. Otherwise I keep a fixed identity for the rest of my life…nah! 😉

So this year I’ve been on a mission to Transcend Labels. I am showing the world what’s possible, to show others how to look beneath the surface, past the labels, past the stereotypes, and to see each other for who we all are. 👥

I truly believe when we do this we’ll start seeing the humanity within each other, see each other as human beings, and see that we are all more alike than we like to believe. With that not only comes greater understanding for our neighbors but most importantly an unconditional love, because the realization comes: “That person is also Me.” ❤️

I see lasting change in the world happening through the individual from the inside-out, not the outside-in. I believe that the better we can be for ourselves, the better we can be for others. 🌎

Gandhi said: “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. Everyone has an opinion, but there are fewer people out there who ever set the example. Will we be the next examples?! 👌

I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH AUTISM; AN EXPLANATION, BUT NOT THE DESTINATION! 💪

I hope this resonates with many of you. I would appreciate it if you could share this post with others, whoever you believe will also benefit from these words. If there are any additional areas I can add value to your life as well as in the blogging community, please let me know! 🙂

My areas of expertise include:

👍 Detail-oriented, Thoroughness

👍 Quality-over-quantity Focused

👍 Analytical, Systemic Thinking

👍 Emotional intelligence (plus 10 years in Customer Service)

👍 Social media, Building Engagement

With lots of gratitude,

Donald “Ace” Arteaga ❤️

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Why Our HUMANITY Matters!

October 15, 2020October 24, 2020 ~ Donald "Nugget" Arteaga ~ Leave a comment

❤️ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐕𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄! ❤️

I am someone who is gay…I rarely talk about it. 🤷‍♂‍

I am someone who is Hispanic…I rarely talk about it. 🤷‍♂‍

I am someone who is Liberal…I rarely talk about it. 🤷‍♂‍

I am someone who is Atheist…I (especially) rarely talk about it. 🤷‍♂‍

Why do I rarely talk about these things? 🤔

Well…let’s take a step back. 👣

Say you were meeting me for the very first time, and the only information you were given about who I am were these labels: 📜

Male. Gay. Hispanic. Liberal. Atheist.

What kind of person comes to your mind that fits into each of these categories? 🤔

What comes to your mind when you think of a “Gay Male”? Flamboyant? Feminine? Limp wrists?

What comes to your mind when you think of an “Atheist?” Snobbish? Science-obsessed? Blasphemous?

Now…take these labels and apply them back to me. And compare these labels to how you 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 know me as a person. 🙋‍♂️

Let me ask: do these labels easily fit into your general perception of me? 😅

Of Donald Arteaga? 🤷‍♂️

If your answer is “no”…THAT is the reason why!

🙌 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐈 𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭, 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬. 🙌

I’d rather we all be judged, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, based upon the content of our character. 👤

👍 I don’t intend for you to judge me by virtue of my sexual preference.

👍 I don’t intend for you to judge me by virtue of my race.

👍 I don’t intend for you to judge me by virtue of my political views.

👍 I don’t intend for you to judge me by virtue of my religious affiliation.

THIS is why I generally don’t provide this information to people upfront. I want you to get to know ME first, minus the preconceptions. 🙂

👀 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐈 𝐚𝐦, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬. 👀

The problem is these labels are only mere facets of who I am as a human being, just as I believe this to be the case for any other human being. 💎

I’ve held this ideal ever since I started my mission to Transcend Labels in 2018. ⏳

The ideal has always been for me to show through my example that people don’t have to be entrenched in their labels. 💯

The ideal has always been for me to show that my diagnosis of Autism is just a temporary explanation and not a final destination. 💯

The ideal has always been for me to show how limiting labels are as frameworks for understanding ourselves and other people. 💯

Consider the facts:

🙌 No one on this planet is 100% exactly the same.

🙌 No one thinks 100% exactly the same way.

🙌 No one has lived 100% exactly the same life as another person.

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐨 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬.

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐧𝐞’𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫.

For me, my mission to Transcend Labels is a life-affirming philosophy that says we are more than our pasts, more than our circumstances, and that we are capable of becoming more than the people we were yesterday. ✊

Perhaps as you read this, this sounds like common sense to you! 😅

But…things seemed to have changed. 🧐

Not with my mission; it remains the same. But I’m talking about within our society. 👥

More and more I continue reading about a growing ideology that:

😱 Encourages people to see each other ONLY for their labels, not for their individuality.

😱 Encourages people to see each other ONLY for their group identities, not for their common humanity.

😱 Encourages people to see each other ONLY in binary camps of either being Oppressors or being Oppressed.

😱 Encourages people to indulge in cognitive biases like mindreading, overgeneralizing, and black-and-white thinking.

This smorgasbord of an ideology has come to be more popularly known as: “being woke”.

(𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘞𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 “𝘊𝘺𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴: 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘈𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘚𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘔𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘙𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘺” 𝘣𝘺 𝘑𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘢𝘺 & 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘗𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦.)

Simply put…the very ideals I’ve stood for the past few years are in direct opposition to this ideology. 🤷‍♂‍

So perhaps you can understand why a part of me is fascinated at how this ideology has reached such a wide audience, especially among the political Left, with little Critical (pun intended) examination. 😅

Perhaps you can understand my fascination reading about this ideology that argues the very ideals I stand for, the message I’ve promoted for years, can now be entirely summarized under labels such as “white supremacy”, “privilege”, “racist”, “microaggression”, and “offensive”. 🤨

❤️ But I get it. ❤️

I understand in these current times A LOT of us are stressed out and worried. I understand it’s hard for anyone to think clearly, let alone rationally, when our minds are shrouded in weeds. 😖

𝐈 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬.

If I were to combine every negative event which has happened the past year, I can’t blame someone for not feeling comfortable with all this Uncertainty. 😨

As I saw 1 tweet put it: “𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐲𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐲.” ❤️

So yes, I definitely understand that lots of people at this time will be desperate to find something which helps them get back to Certainty, back to some sense of clarity and normalcy, back to some sense of renewed purpose and meaning…even if that means embracing an over-simplistic, fringe ideology like this one. 🙌

And THIS is one of the main reasons why I’ve not spoken up about this topic personally. 𝐈’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝’𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐡𝐞’𝐬 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞. 😭

At the moment, the child needs something, anything to stay calm and feel safe. 🛡

Don’t get me wrong, there are 100% real problems in our society that still need to be solved. I’m not here to pretend like everything is all fine and dandy. It’s not.

But we’re not going to solve them when we’re making the incorrect diagnoses, which in turn provide the wrong solutions. 👎

𝐖𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫-𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 👎

But that part of the discussion will be saved for another post…

My point is: THIS is not the way forward. ❌

🤬 “𝑾𝑬𝑳𝑳 𝑴𝑹. 𝑯𝑰𝑮𝑯-𝑨𝑵𝑫-𝑴𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻𝒀 𝑫𝑶𝑵𝑨𝑳𝑫, 𝑮𝑶𝑻 𝑨𝑵𝒀 𝑩𝑬𝑻𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑰𝑫𝑬𝑨𝑺?!” 🤬

I believe I do! And it goes right back to what I was talking about earlier. 😊

🙌 We move forward by focusing on our common humanity.

🙌 We move forward by focusing on what we have in common.

🙌 We move forward by NOT assuming malicious intent of those who disagree with us.

🙌 We move forward by focusing on understanding and less on labeling.

𝐖𝐞 𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲.

𝐖𝐞 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐛𝐢𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲.

𝐖𝐞 𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐋𝐄𝐃𝐆𝐄 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞…𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐒𝐄 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧.

For every time we do this, we’ll remind our survival brain who’s in charge of how we connect with others. 🧠

We’ll remind our survival brain how naïve the caricatures we create in our minds about mass groups of people are. 🧠

𝐈𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲, 𝐥𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬. 𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞.

Because what’s the alternative?

👎 A society which is OBSESSED with focusing on what makes us separate from each other.

👎 A society which DISCRIMINATES people based primarily upon their labels.

👎 A society which attempts to solve the problem of prejudice…with EVEN MORE PREJUDICE.

That doesn’t sound like a desirable outcome, does it? Sounds a bit backwards, right? It’s honestly quite IL-liberal! 😅

But…thankfully we don’t have to go down that route! We don’t have to become “woke”! 💯

I challenge you to come with me and take the road less traveled. It’s important to remember that just because something is popular in the moment doesn’t automatically mean it’s right. 👍

I challenge you to come with me and use what might be considered a more “radical” approach these days to connecting with others:

𝐓𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭. 𝐓𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤. 𝐓𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞. 𝐓𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞. 𝐓𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬.

But if all this sounds too overwhelming, how about just this…?

𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈’𝐦 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠. 👥

𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. 🙂

𝐍𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬. ❤️

Why Misinformation SPREADS!

September 6, 2020September 10, 2020 ~ Donald "Nugget" Arteaga ~ Leave a comment

🤯 𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐒!!! 🤯

Ever played the game Telephone? 📞

It’s where you have group of people get in a straight line, and they stand next to each other. ——->

On one end of the line, Person 1 whispers a message to Person 2 next to them. Person 2 then is supposed to whisper the exact same message to Person 3 also next to them, and this continues on and on until they reach the last person at the end of the line. 👥

The goal of the game is to transfer the message Person 1 whispered as accurate as possible to the last person in line. ➡️

Of course, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲! 😅

It’s a fun game to play if you ever get the chance! 🎲

But, I also think this game is a great analogy when it comes to the public spread of misinformation online. 🤔

Consider this scenario…⬇️

SCENARIO: 𝘼 𝘾𝘿𝘾 𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙨 𝙖 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙘. 🗣️

1. Person 1 cherry picks the CDC’s statement and passes the information to Person 2. 🗣️

2. Person 2 does not trust the CDC. He only remembers what Person 1 said that confirmed his biases against the CDC and passes the remaining information onto Person 3. 🗣️

3. Person 3 has a blog. He carries an anti-establishment worldview, so he posts what Person 2 says word-for-word. He then tacks on his own personal opinion to Person 2’s words and tells his reader to share his post on their social media pages. 🗣️

4. Thousands of people share Person 3’s blog post on their social media pages, in addition to also adding their own personal opinion attached to the posts.

5. Friends of these thousands of people then in turn share their posts on their own social media profiles, adding in even more personal opinions. 🗣️

𝗕𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗗𝗖’𝘀 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗿𝘆-𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱, 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗲𝗱, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐃𝐂’𝐬 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝟏 𝐨𝐫 𝟐 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐃𝐂’𝐬 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. 😱

…See how this can become a BIG problem, especially during a pandemic? 🙋‍♂️

For those of my friends who consider themselves conscious consumers:

📌 For those who take concern over the foods they eat and the impact it has on the environment.

📌 For those who take concern over the media they consume and the impact it has on their mental health.

📌 For those who take concern over the consequences their actions can have on others.

𝐈’𝐦 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞. 🙌

It’s very easy for any of us not to consider the consequences of sharing misinformation, especially when we aren’t even aware we’re doing it. 💯

It’s very easy for any of us not to consider the long-term effects this has on a democracy’s basic understanding of epistemic facts, on social media platforms where a majority of individuals receive their news! 😱

Yes! A 2016 study from Pew Research Center accounted that 62% of adults get their news from social media (Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6424427/).

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧? 😓

We start to grow the amount of individuals who believe the moon landing never happened. We start to grow the amount of individuals who believe vaccines don’t save lives. We start to grow the amount of individuals who believe Bill Gates is the devil incarnate bent on a New World Order. 👿

I would hope most of my social media friends know that 2 + 2 = 4. But with the online game of Telephone, I would not be surprised to see some individuals who start to believe that 2 + 2 = 5 just because they watched 1 persuasive video they saw on YouTube. 😢

Consider this: 𝐀𝐧𝐲 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐮𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥-𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞, 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞’𝐬 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 (“𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎! 𝟐 + 𝟐 𝐄𝐐𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐒 𝟓!”), 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐲𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬. 👀

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤. 💯

But I’m not writing this post to add any additional fearmongering. Perhaps I am too over-concerned. Perhaps I am also underestimating the intelligence of the majority of individuals who use social media. Perhaps my own confirmation bias is seeing these minor instances of ignorance and jumping to conclusions that it’s a bigger problem than it actually is! 😅

Nevertheless, when I see people I know and care about share information that only requires a basic understanding of Science, Chemistry, and Statistics to know it’s false, I’m aware the red flag in my mind starts blowing in the wind. 🚩

I admit it: a part of me does fear a future society where a significant portion of the world’s population cannot share a mutually agreed upon fact as simple as 2 + 2 = 4. 🔢

🤬 “WOW DONALD! WAY TO CRITICIZE YOUR FRIENDS!” 🤬

No, that’s not my intention! I’m not here claiming the spread of misinformation by my friends is at all being done intentionally or maliciously. ❌

As author Sam Harris says: “𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐬.” 👤

Or we can also use the phrase: “𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰.” 👤

That’s why I wanted to write this post, to merely illuminate this potential blind spot. 😊

Like the game of Telephone, misinformation is inevitably going to spread, whether we intend it to or not. This caution need also be applied to me as well! 💯

But my point is we CAN be more careful about how fast it spreads. 😊

I get it. No one was given a How-To handbook to discern accurate and factual information online. Not even me; I had to learn these skills on my own! 😅

Back in school I was given a syllabus for my classes by the teacher. I was told what textbooks I needed to use. I was told what chapters I needed to read and study on. 🔎

Before the internet, we had a very limited amount of TV channels we could choose to get our information from. And if we wanted to further expand our knowledge, we’d have to get in our cars and drive to the nearest library. 📚

But now with the Internet…we have MILLIONS of pieces of information available to us at the click of a button! 🖱️

And EVEN MORE information is continuing to be created right as you read this post! This post you’re reading here IS just a speck of it! 👍

My point is, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐯𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬. 👥

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭. ✍️

So while social media provided many benefits, it also came with this unforeseen baggage. 🤷‍♂️

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞.

Someone online can proclaim the fact of 2 + 2 = 4 as something to be “debated” when there is no debate. As long you know how to market yourself, build an online audience, and influence others you can sell snake oil and people will buy it. 🤦‍♂️

😓 “DONALD, YOU’RE DEPRESSING ME WITH THIS!” 😓

BUT…there is a bright side to all this! 🌞

𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 (𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲) 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧! 🥳

Companies like Facebook continue to work with third-party fact checking companies to combat this growing problem. (Source: https://www.facebook.com/journalismproject/programs/third-party-fact-checking)👏

The very idea of “Fact-Checking” has now become a thing among organizations! (Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fact-checking_websites) 😄

𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬. 👮‍♂️

That said, should we really have to depend on social media companies to supervise us? Can we do better than this, to be more responsible, self-governing citizens? 👤

Perhaps I’m a bit too optimistic, but I believe we can! 😄

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲. This goes for me too! 🎯

𝟱 𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 𝗧𝗢 𝗔𝗦𝗞 𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗜𝗡𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗢𝗡𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘!

📌 𝘞𝘏𝘖 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵? 𝘋𝘰 𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮?

📌 𝘞𝘏𝘈𝘛 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦?

📌 𝘞𝘏𝘌𝘕 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥?

📌 𝘞𝘏𝘌𝘙𝘌 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘺?

📌 𝘞𝘏𝘠 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵? 𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘣𝘪𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦?

𝗕𝗢𝗡𝗨𝗦 𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡: 𝘋𝘰 𝘐 𝘙𝘌𝘈𝘓𝘓𝘠 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵? 𝘖𝘳 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘞𝘈𝘕𝘛 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵?

𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫. As a functioning democracy, as a basic understanding of objective truth, it matters that we all can agree that 2 + 2 = 4. 💯

The bigger question is: will you join me in being a part of that solution? ❤️

FOR MORE INFORMATION, WATCH THE NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY “THE SOCIAL DILEMMA” 📼: https://www.netflix.com/title/81254224

How We BECOME Civil!

September 5, 2020 ~ Donald "Nugget" Arteaga ~ Leave a comment

🙌 I’M A SPIRITUAL PERSON…AND A SCIENTIFIC PERSON! 🙌

It doesn’t have to be one OR the other; it can be one AND the other. ↔️

I don’t expect my spiritual friends to understand the complexities of science and the search for objective truth. 🧬

But nor do I expect my scientific friends to understand the usefulness of stories and metaphorical truths to help someone live a better quality of life. ❤️

The problem I see happening is when each side assumes malicious intent of the other. Each side assumes they are searching for the same definition of “truth”. 👍

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧, 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧’𝐭. 👎

They both have very different epistemologies and methodologies for how they seek “truth”. 😅

↔️ Science is focused on precision; spirituality is very broad.

↔️ Science uses quantitative measurement; spirituality embraces the abstract.

↔️ Science is focused on objectivity; spirituality is focused on subjectivity.

Unfortunately, each side’s misunderstandings of each other puts them both at odds. This miscommunication has both sides end up talking over each other. 🔀

It’s why it’s so easy for each side to label the other side as the “villain”. 👿

Problems arise:

📌 When the spiritual individual misunderstands science and cites studies for which a scientist could easily deduct to be “junk” or “pseudoscience”.

📌 When the scientific individual misunderstands spirituality and thinks the ideas that are taught are useless because they can’t be measured quantitatively.

📌 When the spiritual individual labels scientists and the breakthroughs they discover as “satanic” and “unnatural”.

📌 When the scientific individual labels spirituality and the rituals within these communities as “delusional” and “woo woo”.

In other words, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝟐 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡.

𝐖𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝟐 𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞.

Let me add: I’m NOT saying I treat these fields as having equal usefulness. I’m NOT taking the middle ground here and saying both sides are 50-50. I strongly disagree with that stance. ❌

I have my own personal views and stances towards each field, but that’s not what this post is about.

My point with writing this post is the same point I’ve made in so many of my other posts: 𝒅𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒘 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓. 👶

Am I saying a scientist or spiritual teacher cannot question authority figures or experts outside their dedicated fields? Of course not! That’s how we learn and understand from the experts in their fields. It’s important we ask questions! 💯

Hell, I’m not an “expert” in either field and I’m still writing this post! 😜

But what I am advocating for is an open communication between the fields, to bring the best of both worlds to the table while at the same time understanding and respecting where the fields are going to irreconcilably differ.

⚠️ BUT THIS ISN’T LIMITED TO SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALITY! ⚠️

This can also be applied to the political sphere, when it comes to Democrats and Republicans, “the Left” and “the Right”.

Van Jones argued in his recent book “Beyond the Messy Truth” one of the biggest problems facing our modern politics is that political parties are no longer uniting under the ideals of Conservatism or Liberalism, to bring out the best of their parties. Instead, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢-𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲. 🤬

Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt provided a similar argument in his book “The Coddling of the American Mind” but in the context of college campuses. He cites instances where college students have forcibly interrupted and shouted down guest speakers they personally deemed “offensive”. 🤬

In one instance, a college professor disagreed with students about one of their social causes. Literally, student protesters surrounded him, screamed at him when he asked for a civil discussion, and demanded he resign from the university.

To put it simply:

🌟 𝙋𝙤𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙯𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙙. 𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙢 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙙. 𝘾𝙮𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙢 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙙. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚’𝙨 𝙖 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙢𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙪𝙨, 𝙗𝙮 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙖𝙪𝙡𝙩, 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩.

𝘼𝙧𝙜𝙪𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙞𝙣. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮’𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙙𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. 🌟

And I won’t pretend I’m immune from falling into these mindsets either! 🙋‍♂️

I’m not here to claim moral superiority with this post. Just like anyone else, I need to remind myself not to fall into these traps at times too! 💯

It’s why I don’t blame you if you fall into them either. 👍

🙌 BUT…IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY! 🙌

𝙄’𝙢 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 “𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙢𝙮”. 🌟

It may be good for one’s online branding and business marketing to create polarization and division in the short-term, but it sure as hell isn’t good for humanity’s sake in the long-term. 💯

It’s why we ALL need to be very careful about the environments we surround ourselves in, the people we choose to surround ourselves with, and what we choose to feed our minds on a daily basis. 🧠

It’s not just about maintaining a healthy physical body but also about maintaining a healthy mental mind.

𝑭𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒋𝒖𝒏𝒌 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒔, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚. 𝑭𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒋𝒖𝒏𝒌 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒔, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅. 🌟

Did you know Van Jones is close friends with Newt Gingrich? 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐦. Van Jones is a Democrat and Newt a Republican.

Van Jones notes in his book they disagree more than they ever agree politically. 😅

But despite that, they’re good friends! 😲

Why? Newt once shared with him this piece of wisdom:

“𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 ‘90% 𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒎𝒚’ 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 ‘10% 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅’ – 𝒐𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆.” 🌟

It’s why I think Jonathan Haidt was also right, in the same tradition, when he said the greatest wisdom you can find is in the minds of your opponents. Your “villains”. The people you’re emotionally tempted label in your mind as “pure evil”. 👿

⚠️ BUT…YOU AND I BOTH HAVE TO BE OPEN TO HEARING THEM OUT! ⚠️

A few months ago, I listened to a Joe Rogan podcast where he interviewed Daryl Davis. Daryl is an African American musician who is known not just for his amazing talent on the piano but also for converting over 200 people OUT of the white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan. 😱

On the podcast he went in-depth about how this all started. But the biggest detail which stuck out to me hearing his story was in how simple his solution was in reaching out to Klan members! 💡

🌟 𝑯𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒄𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒍, 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎. 𝑯𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒐𝒇. 🌟

He learned what the Klan believed about African Americans, and he (again, respectfully) challenged their ideas. He invited many of them over to his house for dinner! And in turn, they even invited him to their Klan meetings! 😅

It wasn’t long after that one of the top Klan members handed Daryl his Klan robe and said he was leaving the organization. 😱

𝗔𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻, 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝟭 𝗼𝗳 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟬 𝗞𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗺𝗲𝗻!

And you know what, the solution Daryl provided in this situation was not so different from the story of Megan Phelps-Roper either! 🙌

Megan was a former member of the Westboro Baptist Church, a group widely known for their extremist views towards homosexuals (“God hates f**s”).

From birth, Megan was raised in the Church as her grandfather was the founder. Because of her upbringing, she was raised to see a very limited view of the world around her. 👀

𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐬.

It was only when she created a Twitter account to promote her Church was she exposed to alternative viewpoints. Anonymous people she had never met were now pointing out logical inconsistencies in her tweets.

One of those people in particular was a lawyer she debated and eventually became good friends with. 🔗

But the difference between him and other people who simply tweeted insults at her?

🌟 𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝘿𝙖𝙧𝙮𝙡, 𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙘𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙡 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙚𝙧. 🌟

Eventually she started to doubt what she was raised to believe. She eventually went to her folks for clarity, but with the new perspectives she had been introduced to she did not receive a satisfactory answer. 🤯

Eventually she left the church along with her sister…and her family shunned her. Today she shares her personal story with others, to provide an inside view when it comes to religious extremism. 🗣️

As for that lawyer she once debated…they’re now married! 💍

🙌 WHAT DO ALL THESE STORIES HAVE IN COMMON? 🙌

🌟 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇-𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔. 🌟

🌟 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒇𝒖𝒍. 𝑵𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕. 🌟

🌟 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒐𝒏 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒔𝒐. 🌟

These all may sound like common sense. But how many people do you see using this common sense on a daily basis?

How about yourself? 😉

Sounds like it’s back to basics, right?!

❤️ BUT I GET IT! ❤️

Seriously, I do!

Your need to “be right” is the same reason I want to “be right”. 🙌

𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞. 𝐈𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐞. 𝐈𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬. 🌟

𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐬, 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧. 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧?! 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭! 🌟

𝐓𝐨 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐈’𝐦 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐈 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐈 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬. 🌟

𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐈 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞. 🌟

But there’s 1 big problem:

𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥, 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐰. 🌟

So, I get it…it’s not easy! It wasn’t easy for me either! ❤️

🙌 BUT…THERE ARE SOLUTIONS! 🙌

These are solutions we need to start addressing sooner than later, so much as we are going to live together and not die together.

🌟 𝙒𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 7.5 𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙬𝙚 𝙙𝙤 𝙤𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙬𝙚 𝙙𝙤. 🌟

🌟 𝙒𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙥 𝙢𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙨 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙪𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚.🌟

🌟 𝙒𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙥 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙪𝙗𝙩. 𝙏𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙘𝙪𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮’𝙧𝙚 𝙖 “𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧”. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙗𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙝 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙡, 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨. 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚! 🌟

So, who’s with me in being the change we wish to see? 🙋‍♂️

It doesn’t mean you won’t make mistakes. I can tell you I’ve made plenty myself! What matters is you acknowledge those mistakes and continue to improve upon them. 👍

If I’ve not convinced you yet to come along on this journey, perhaps I can share with you advice directly from Megan Phelps-Roper herself on how we can better communicate with others…

“🙌 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭.

My friends on Twitter realized that even when my words were aggressive and offensive, I sincerely believed I was doing the right thing.

Assuming ill motives almost instantly cuts us off from truly understanding why someone does and believes as they do. 🌟

We forget that they’re a human being with a lifetime of experience that shaped their mind, and we get stuck on that first wave of anger, and the conversation has a very hard time ever moving beyond it. But when we assume good or neutral intent, we give our minds a much stronger framework for dialogue.

🙌 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.

When we engage people across ideological divides, asking questions helps us map the disconnect between our differing points of view. That’s important because we can’t present effective arguments if we don’t understand where the other side is actually coming from and because it gives them an opportunity to point out flaws in our positions.

But asking questions serves another purpose; it signals to someone that they’re being heard. 🌟

When my friends on Twitter stopped accusing and started asking questions, I almost automatically mirrored them. Their questions gave me room to speak, but they also gave me permission to ask them questions and to truly hear their responses. It fundamentally changed the dynamic of our conversation.

🙌 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐦.

This takes practice and patience, but it’s powerful. At Westboro, I learned not to care how my manner of speaking affected others. I thought my rightness justified my rudeness — harsh tones, raised voices, insults, interruptions — but that strategy is ultimately counterproductive. Dialing up the volume and the snark is natural in stressful situations, but it tends to bring the conversation to an unsatisfactory, explosive end.

When my husband was still just an anonymous Twitter acquaintance, our discussions frequently became hard and pointed, but we always refused to escalate. Instead, he would change the subject. He would tell a joke or recommend a book or gently excuse himself from the conversation. We knew the discussion wasn’t over, just paused for a time to bring us back to an even keel.

People often lament that digital communication makes us less civil, but this is one advantage that online conversations have over in-person ones. We have a buffer of time and space between us and the people whose ideas we find so frustrating. We can use that buffer. Instead of lashing out, we can pause, breathe, change the subject or walk away, and then come back to it when we’re ready.

🙌 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲…𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.

This might seem obvious, but one side effect of having strong beliefs is that we sometimes assume that the value of our position is or should be obvious and self-evident, that we shouldn’t have to defend our positions because they’re so clearly right and good that if someone doesn’t get it, it’s their problem — that it’s not my job to educate them.

But if it were that simple, we would all see things the same way. 🌟

As kind as my friends on Twitter were, if they hadn’t actually made their arguments, it would’ve been so much harder for me to see the world in a different way. We are all a product of our upbringing, and our beliefs reflect our experiences. We can’t expect others to spontaneously change their own minds. If we want change, we have to make the case for it.

🌟 𝐌𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 — 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐧. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐨𝐫. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞.” 🌟

❤️ SO…HOW ABOUT IT?! ❤️

How Stories POSSESS Us!

September 1, 2020September 22, 2020 ~ Donald "Nugget" Arteaga ~ Leave a comment

📖 𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐄 𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄𝐒 📖

I’d like you to take a moment and read the following 2 Stories. They both revolve around the topic of Capitalism ⬇️:

𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 #𝟏:

“𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤. 𝘍𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴. 🌽

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘮𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘵. 🏭

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳. 😈

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘣𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 20𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺, 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥, 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴. 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯. 🙌

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵-𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭. 𝘚𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘳, 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳. 🔥

𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳-𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘶𝘴…” 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 💯

Does this Story resonate with you? 📖

If not…how about this one? ⬇️

𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 #𝟐:

“𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦, 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘵, 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘧, 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘷𝘦. 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘶𝘥𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘥, 𝘴𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥. 😞

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 17𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺, 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯. 🌞

𝘐𝘯 𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘢𝘸, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴. ❤️

𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘴, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴. 💪

𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 20𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘺, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵: 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮. 👎

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 💰

𝘠𝘦𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵-𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘰𝘮. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘥 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘦 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘳. 😡

𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥.” 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐋𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 💯

So…which Story is correct? #1 or #2? 📖

Depending on where you reside on the political spectrum, 1 of these Stories you’re far more likely to agree is accurate. ↔️

But here’s the catch: 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔. 📖

They are 2 different narratives, 2 different perspectives on the exact same thing: Capitalism. ↔️

But to back up a moment, what exactly are Stories?

🌟 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙚 𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙤𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮. 🌟

If this definition sounds too pretentious, think of Stories as like wearing pairs of glasses. 👓

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐬.

👓 The person wearing an Optimistic lens will focus on seeing the best of things.

👓 The person wearing a Pessimistic lens will focus on seeing the worst of things.

👓 The person wearing a Realistic lens will focus on seeing things just as they are.

👓 The person wearing a Cynical lens will focus on distrusting the things they see.

Do you know a person who, even in the worst of situations, can always find a silver lining? 🙋‍♂‍

Or how about a person that, even in the best of situations, can always find something to complain about? 🙋‍♀‍

𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬.

🗣️ “DONALD, ENOUGH WITH THE ANALOGIES! WHAT’S YOUR POINT?” 🗣️

My point is it’s CRUCIAL we become aware of what glasses we’re currently wearing. 😅

Why? 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞. 📖

With that said, briefly re-read those 2 Stories of Capitalism again at the beginning of this post. ⬆️

You can now take a guess as to the lens each author is wearing. 👓

To put it simply: 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐚𝐫𝐞. 𝐖𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐖𝐄 𝐚𝐫𝐞. 👤

𝐖𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞’𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 📖

🤬 “THAT’S RIDICULOUS, DONALD! YOU’RE SAYING I ‘CHOOSE’ A CYNICAL LENS?! JUST LOOK AT HOW MESSED UP THE WORLD IS!” 🤬

To clarify, I’m NOT saying you’re “choosing” any of the lenses you’re currently wearing, at least not consciously. 😅

Often, we’ve adapted to these lenses over time through our environment: from our family, from the books we’ve read, from the media we’ve consumed, and from the opinions of friends we’ve surrounded ourselves with. 🌎

As Jim Rohn said: “𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 5 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩.” 👥

Surround yourself with negative people, you’ll soon become one too. Surround yourself with hopeful people, you’ll soon have their hope rub off on you too. 👥

𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝟏 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲. 👓

After enough time, you’ll take this Story lens to be a Fact and not just a Story. 😲

But herein lies the problem: 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀. ❌

𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞; 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬. ⚪

It’s the difference between saying a Fact about capitalism (“Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit”) versus saying a Story about capitalism (“Capitalism is exploitation”). ↔️

Capitalism is not intrinsically “exploitation” nor “liberation”; these are just Stories lenses we’ve placed around them. 👓

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙤 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙨 𝒂𝒔 𝙁𝙖𝙘𝙩, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙨𝙤 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙬𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣’𝙩 𝙛𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜. 🤯

𝙒𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙣𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙬𝙚’𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙜𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙨. 😔

When we’re unable to take off our glasses, we have a much harder time separating the Facts from the Stories about the Facts. When we’re unable to take off our glasses, we have a much harder time being able to truly understand other people’s points of view. 🙌

In turn, our empathy becomes replaced more and more with egotistical self-righteousness and moral grandstanding. 🥇

So…how do we solve this problem? 🤔

𝐖𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠. 🔎

Here’s a list of just a few of the Stories currently circulating in our culture. 📖

I must warn you: some of the Stories I list here you may wholeheartedly embrace, and the fact I’m listing them here may make you feel like I’m trivializing or invalidating you or other peoples’ personal experiences. 👎

I can assure you that is not at all my intention here. So, please be aware of this just in case your emotional defenses jump up in protest. ❤️

📖 “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘭𝘵-𝘙𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺!”

📖 “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘓𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴!”

📖 “𝘞𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯!”

📖 “𝘍𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯!”

📖 “𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘬-𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘵!”

📖 “𝘞𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘵!”

📖 “𝘞𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺!”

📖 “𝘉𝘪𝘨 𝘗𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦!”

📖 “𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘵!”

📖 “𝘉𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘎𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭!”

📖 “𝘚𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦!”

📖 “𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘎𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴!”

📖 “𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 1%!”

📖 “𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘺!”

📖 “𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘴!”

📖 “𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦, 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘦!”

See some Stories you recognize? 🙋‍♂️🙋

By sharing this list, I’m NOT here to say which Story lens has more validity to them. I’m also NOT here to say each Stories lens is equally accurate or equally useful. They’re not, and it’s why we need Facts. 👍

But that’s NOT what this post is about. 💯

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬, 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗠𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗟𝗬 𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱.

👀 If you wear a Story lens that all men are sexist, misogynist pigs, you’re going to have a very hard time seeing any man in a positive light.

👀 If you wear a Story lens that all police officers are racist, sadistic authority figures, you’ll assume every police altercation that includes people of different races to automatically be about racism.

👀 If you wear a Story lens that all protesters are rioting, anarchic looters, you’ll assume every property destroyed during a protest to automatically be the cause of protesters.

👀 If you wear a Story lens that all white people are racists, you’re going to see racism in every interaction with a white person, regardless if it’s there or not.

A perfect phrase to summarize this: “𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝.” 🔎

But…wouldn’t YOU rather decide what it is that you’re going to seek? Wouldn’t YOU rather decide how you’re going to see the world? Wouldn’t YOU rather decide what glasses you’re going to wear? 💯

It’s time to take back control, don’t you think? 💪

🙌 𝐖𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠.

🙌 𝐖𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝.

🙌 𝐖𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬.

🗣️ “DONALD, THIS IS A LOT OF WORK! WHY SHOULD I DO THIS WHEN NO ONE ELSE IS?!” 🗣️

Because you’re not doing this for others.

😊 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

😊 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐎𝐌 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

😊 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐋 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐬𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐦𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬.

The alternative is to fall back asleep, to allow yourself to forget you’re wearing glasses, and to return to a place where you’ll continue experiencing needless suffering. 😢

After all, in this place your Stories are in control of you. 😔

So…staying awake sounds like a better option, doesn’t it? 😅

You got this! And before you know it, you’ll be looking back on the old Stories you use to carry, just like the 2 Stories about Capitalism, and truly understand when I say you: “These are 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 Stories!” 🙌

📖 𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐄 𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐕𝐄𝐒 📖