SEGREGATION, FRAGMENTATION AND POLARIZATION
Last September, my husband and I attended a dinner reception for social entrepreneurs, journalists, government and academia hosted by the Schwab Foundation – World Economic Forum in New York City. I had the honor of shaking hands with Vice President Al Gore and listened to his speech. His long-time passion is on climate change issues. He explained that the impacts of climate change are imminent and terrifying. There are solutions available, but it will require massive changes in political will and people’s attitudes.
During that same week in New York City, the United Nations also held its annual meeting. At the U.N. event, the 16-year-old activist from Sweden, Greta Thunberg made a very emotional speech. She addressed and shamed the world leaders for ruining the earth and causing climate change. Her speech received backlashes from the Republican right-wing group, they accused the Liberal left-wing group of manipulating a teenager for its agenda.
A couple of days later, I flew to another state in the U.S., and I met a Republican who is pro-Donald Trump. As a Christian, she commends President Trump for being anti-abortion. She also doesn’t believe in the reality of climate change, just like President Trump. In my view, she exhibits an internal inconsistency with her Christian values.
While she takes a position to support the President on an admittedly important issue, she seems to conveniently “overlook” the glaring negative aspects and deeds of the same public figure. This pattern and habit of thinking are dangerous because we reduce the essence of a person to a single dimension, ignoring the other aspects.
These meetings stroke a nerve within me. I was exposed to jarring differences of opinions within a short period of time, and both sides were very emotionally charged. It’s hard to be level-headed when the emotional temperature is high. I couldn’t help but compare the political situations in the US to Indonesia.
In Indonesia nowadays, people are polarized and fragmented by their identities more than ever. Even though it is politically incorrect, people are getting more brazen to raise the race and religion cards in the public space. This tension appeals to the primal sense of the mass, making emotional manipulation more effective and political mobilization easier.
Unfortunately, it is human nature to notice and emphasize differences of identities, including race, religion, and belief systems. We can see this pattern from ancient history to pop-culture. Some examples from pop-culture are like the ongoing tension between the pure-blood and the muggle wizards in the wizarding world of Harry Potter, or between the mutants and the humans in the Marvel universe of X-Men.
Social media only amplifies the problem. Facebook classifies people in different digital chambers. A person will only be exposed to other like-minded people or advertisements that propagate similar interests. This algorithm creates the illusion that most people think the way we do. We are losing our sensitivity and ability to connect with people who hold different views and values. We become more ill-equipped to function in a diverse civil society.
Just like in the Harry Potter and X-Men universes, there are two philosophies on how to approach the problem. One philosophy wants the different groups to live in harmony together and respect each other on equal footing. The other philosophy feels either there’s subordination and hierarchy within the society or live separately.
The problem is people increasingly live segregated lives within their own areas, communities, schools, markets,
We Need a meeting place to gather
There are minimal meaningful interactions outside one’s environment to defuse the tensions. We live isolated from each other with no space where friendships can grow across organically. We lack the enriching opportunities to interact, to understand what it is like to be in other people’s shoes, to appeal to the good side of people, and to genuinely appreciate and accept differences.
People need meeting spaces where cross-interactions happen naturally so we can reverse the dangerous trends of social fragmentation. It is time for us to reinvent and reconstruct these meeting places. Beneran
The youth will gain leadership, citizenship and character education through games and experiential learning in Beneran Indonesia’s programs. High school students compete in groups, solve problems and puzzles about Indonesia together in different environments. Each group comprises people from diverse backgrounds. The activities are highly engaging and memorable to the youth, creating more impressions than lessons or lectures ever could.
Beneran Indonesia is still a young organization, barely two years old, but has already impacted over 7,000 youths. Students give positive and glowing testimonials after coming back from Beneran Indonesia’s events and they bring their friends to subsequent events. We see clear patterns of negative prejudices and mental blocks that are torn down after taking part in the events. The youth also learn new things about themselves and appreciate other people more.
Children and youth are our highest leverage for civil society in Indonesia. Youth who disrespect one another and are unwilling to work together will not be able to bring Indonesia to the next level. We need to find a new or revised Indonesia dream that can unite us all again, like what the Indonesia youth did almost one century ago. They had a strong sense of shared vision, shared future, shared lives, shared homes, and shared
Note: Beneran Indonesia is a not-for-profit organization that teaches leadership, citizenship and character education to youths through creative channels and programs. To learn more: http://www.beneranindonesia.id
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