The whole and its parts

The whole & its parts

Taking a position

When someone takes a position and decides to hold it others naturally react to it.

Their reaction will depend on their perception of the positioning.

If they can see a strong option that is loosely held, they can be able to enter into a dialogue, should they desire to discuss it or learn more about it.

However, if what they perceive is someone wanting to change them, that is someone who believes to be right, they may find it harder to remain open to a dialogue.

That is where polarization starts. It is the combination of believing to be the one who knows and showing a desire to impose one’s idea on the other. It creates an us vs. them situation.

The challenge is, that the experience of polarization doesn’t only depend on the person taking a position it depends as much on how the person perceiving it categorizes it as polarizing or not.

They can only let go of the idea of polarization whenever they have a common understanding of what their conversation is for and serves an objective they are sharing and remain engaged in.

 

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