Contradiction
We come now to the final conditions of our VUCA-Plus environment. This is the condition that is most likely to drive people to an authoritarian regime. We are confronted with messages that are being delivered all the time that are valid (the condition of ambiguity). We often wish that they would remain vague, for when they are clear, these messages often point in quite different directions. At a trivial level, we are inundated with advertisement that conflict with one another. Which, after all, is the best way to brighten our smile. Do we need one of those fancy whitening trays prepared by our dentist or will one of those much less expensive whitening toothpastes sufficient. And what about mouth odor, wrinkles and digestive challenges? At a more profound level, we find the radical contradictions offered by political candidates. The men and women running for office often seem to be living on two different worlds. Their differences are not easily resolved. There often does not seem to be a meeting ground. The moderate candidate and those advocating compromise seem to be out-of-date with current polarized political realities
There is major systemic impact when contradiction is saturating our 21st Century life. Credible advice is being offered by people and institutions that can be trusted—but the advice is often inconsistent. As a result, we can’t trust any expertise, since the “experts” don’t seem to agree on anything. There are alternative interpretations of the shadows cast on the wall of our Platonic Cave. In some cases, the experts even seem to be looking at and telling us about quite different shadows on the wall. We even wonder if we are in the same cave as some of the experts.
As a personal level, contradiction can have a challenging impact. To remain “sane” we often must change our mind about certain issues or at least be open to new perspectives and ideas. It is not hard to try out a new whitening procedure—it is a whole other matter to change our political affiliations or our attitude about something as important as domestic violence or climate change. When we are being cognitively “lazy” and are falling back on habitual, fast thinking, then the contradictions will disappear. We listen to one expert and one point of view.
Life becomes much easier. Don’t change the news channel or pick up a newspaper or social media posting that offers an alternative interpretation of the daily news—or even a more balanced perspective. After a hard and demanding day of work and some time playing with our kids, the last thing we need is a thoughtful analysis offered from quite different political perspectives. Enough already! Authoritarianism makes it much easier to relax and retire from the daily challenges of life and work. No more contradictions. It is all clean and simple.
