A635.1.3.RB - 21st Century Enlightenment

My reflection blog this week will reflect on the video “21st Century Enlightenment” by Matthew Taylor. Before I reflect on the video, itself, I found myself thinking about our current culture and behaviors within our country, where various interests’ groups feel the need to be right or be offended. Taylor discusses how the Enlightenment Age is the Age of reason. My perception of why he called the video the “21^st Century Enlightenment” is because our culture is continuously changing and although we are more modernized we can still continue or should consider thinking differently in order to be better prepared in the future or obtain a different result. (Taylor, 2010)

Think Differently

Taylor (2010) stated that “to live differently, you have to think differently.” I felt his statement is very powerful in comparing it to the rhetoric centered on the political division in our country where actions are driven by individual thoughts or interpretation of thoughts.  Today’s rhetoric from my perspective is generated by change and the unknown consequences associated with the change around us.  My opinion is change has always been a catalyst that causes division and the division is caused when people don’t have an open mind. What I find in most of my own social media conversations is that acceptance of change is generally protected by one’s own beliefs or values that are usually integrated with religion, personal experiences, or specific social interests. (Taylor, 2010)

A personal experience that just occurred this week was a conversation on social media and one of my very close friends automatically feels that all republicans are Nazi’s. I share this story because I had to personally change her experience in order for her to change her opinion. Being that my last name is associated with the German heritage, I let her know that my father-in-law barely survived the war and his own father was forced to fight in the war or be killed. His father was a Prisoner of War (POW) and was not around to support the family for years. The word Nazi is generalized and is associated with that war and by linking current political affiliation to that war is offensive to some who lived through it. Because our current family is very strongly republican it is offensive to us to hear individuals who have not experienced the war call todays extremist Nazi. As an individual, I needed to share an experience with my friend so she understood why it would be offensive to take such an action against innocent people. I may have not have changed her overall perception but the conversation went well and we are still friends. I feel that Taylors statement “to live differently you must think differently” is just that. Too often we are in a bubble with our our beliefs and values, leaving us with the inability to understand others because we refuse to think differently.

Resist Tendencies

Taylor (2010) talked about that we need "to resist our tendencies to make right or true that which is merely familiar and wrong or false that which is only strange".  I understood this statement to mean that just a person does something differently does not make it right or wrong. My work experiences relating to this topic occur all the time. As a project manager building schedules in a manufacturing company there are many tools and processes that tell you how to build a schedule and many metrics build to measure your performance. This is great and if you have been around the block you know this is a phenomenon of individual perception because a schedule is different based on the product or service being provided. The issue we have is a group of older employees who have always used the Microsoft Project scheduling software and a new generation who uses the scheduling software Primavera, which is the tool defined as the official tool for the company. Both tools are equally acceptable based on customer needs but there is resistance to change and each group feels they are right, without considering the other person. perspective (Taylor, 2010)

My personal perspective of this statement relates to the resistance of change and we become complacent in our own work zones. I started a new job about eight weeks ago within sustainment.  The team dynamics is made up of all individuals who have served in the military or are currently still serving. This is a comfortable group for me because all military members have a certain code of ethics and respect for one another. Second week on the job I was told by a co-worker that I needed to stop being so happy. The group was struggling because the team was new and there was strong resistance to the new leader. What the team didn’t know is that I previously worked for him on the F22 Program for over five years. The leader knew what I had to offer and allowed me to integrate with the team on my own. After a month of being in the new role, a co-worker told the team in a staff meeting that if they had hired me several months ago he would have never chosen to retire. That was an impactful statement because I don’t necessarily work with this individual on a daily basis. He continued to express that the team has chosen to be resistance to the new leadership and he is bringing great people with experience into the group to help. My only strategy in life is being kind to one another, regardless of their views, ideas, or work ethic. I feel the resistance to change is culture driven and it happens in every generation. I was very happy to receive the kind words but the overall message is that I don’t change who I am whether it is perceived as wrong or right to others. I could be grumpy like others but that is not who I am so I resist the tendency to conform to a norm.

Pop Culture

Taylor (2010) argued that our our society should eschew elements of pop culture that degrade people and that we should spend more time looking into what develops empathetic citizens. To deliberately avoid pop culture that degrades people sounds easy but with new social media trends and how it is used to degrade and disrespect one another, I think this statement is long gone or lost its value.  As a parent, I would not let my children watch shows or listen to music that was degrading to anything, therefore we watched allot of Disney. I feel our social understanding and acceptance of diversity is creating our inability to be empathetic to one another. (Taylor, 2010)

One of the pop culture activity that degrades people is in music and when is it acceptable to use words that degrade minorities, race, or gender?  When I listened to this part of the video I remember when rap became popular and it was okay for an African American person to call another person a bad name but if a non-African American used the same word it was offensive. Recently at work I attended a course about unconscious bias and how that relates to how individuals automatically perceive things based on what we see, hear or assume. In the video “Carlsberg stunts with bikers in cinema” is about how people entered a room of bikers and made an assumption that they would not take the only two seats in the middle of the theatre based on their perception of the bikers. This video opened my eyes that not everything we hear or see is right and we should be more empathetic to others, no matter what their back ground is. My perspective is that we should not disallow something because we are afraid of what it might do to others. As a parent, it was my role to teach my kids from right and wrong and shielding them from pop culture creates a culture of non-diversity and a silo in their thoughts. We cannot protect our children from the unknown, therefore I do not agree with Taylor. You can still teach your kids to be empathetic by providing good and bad experiences.

Atomizing

Taylor (2010) talks about atomizing people from collaborative environments and the destructive effect on their growth. Taylors comment is referencing the collaboration of people. I believe this to be true because one person cannot ensure enlightenment and it takes everyone to get along and put aside the personal difference to accomplish their goals. I was always told in the workplace that everyone is replaceable and those who work as a team remain on the team. Reflecting back on my first reference of today’s politics and the current status quo of the hate on social media, new media, and current events this statements is very relevant as people are very verbally destructive toward each other. Atomizing would be awesome but I think with all the different views and diversity our country is so bi-polar in this topic and we have a long way to go in order for the country to unit. The last time I saw the country come together is when the events of 9/11 occurred. I truly hope it does not take another major catastrophe or war to unite our country as one. (Taylor, 2010)

Lessons Learned

            I really enjoyed the presentation by Taylor as I thought it was very relevant to what is currently occurring in our culture. Although, most of it makes common sense it is nice to get a reminder that we are a community of people and we must learn to leave and respect one another, even if we are different. I am not a person who is rude to people, but I will be one of the first to stand up to someone who is. I am very aware of my actions especially on social media and this past week when an Atlanta Gym owner publically announced police officers and military member were not allowed in his gym, I had to restrain from posting my own views of how I thought it was ridiculous. I refrained because it would spew hate and we cannot be collaborative and get to the goal of uniting as one if we keep the fuel fired with our opinions. The video reinforces that we must have control of our individual thoughts and changing the way we think can change the way we live.  I really enjoyed the graphics in the presentations as it as creative.

References:

Taylor, M. (2010, August 19). RSA ANIMATE: 21st Century Enlightenment. Retrieved August 8, 2017, from Youtube: https://youtu.be/AC7ANGMy0yo

Youtube. (2011, September 22). Carlsberg stunts with bikers in cinema. Retrieved August 8, 2017, from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS3iB47nQ6E