Defensiveness And Power

Black-and-white thinkers often assume that if another person's statement, opinion, or point of view does not sound exactly the same as their own (even if it IS the same, but is said in a slightly different way), then they must be "against" them.

It's either "right" or "wrong",
they're either "with me" or "against me",
they either "get it" or they're "clueless",
they're either "good" (like me), or "bad" (not like me).

This black-and-white thinking, team-making, and assumption-making has been affecting humanity adversely for millennia, and the effects can be seen throughout history in war after war, oppression after oppression, horror after horror, and right now in the modern era, from global issues all the way to family problems.

Humans are just people, no matter who they are or where they're from. We're all the same species, no one has natural supremacy over anyone else. "Power" is created with the gathering of resources, weapons, territory, and other humans, not born in an individual (a statement that only upsets those who want natural power to be real, so they can have it, or so that someone they admire can have it). So when we share our points of view there is no real reason to take sides or become defensive, no one has more inherent power or authority than anyone else in the natural world, it only exists when it's believed to exist.
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