The polarisation of speech

On the one hand we have political correctness. The rise of the super sensitive. “Don’t hurt my feelings” gone to the extreme.

On the other we have the rise of freedom of inappropriate speech. Hate, trolling, racism, white supremacy. (Better spoken and evident than festering like a vile wound in the dark places of humanity…)

If we step back and look at this landscape as if looking at a giant artwork we might see the perfection of this moment.

Both are reflections of each other, the yin to the yang, the broken to the broken. Expressions possibly of human evolution towards greater harmony and wholeness.

What both polarities might be seeking on humanities evolutionary journey is that we remove the subject-object relationship. The us and them. The ‘my tribe, your tribe’. My rights over your rights. In group out group.

Perhaps instead we might start with the human.

The being.

Us is them and I am you.

We realise, from this view of the whole, that any words spoken with hate, fear or ridicule, to shame, demean, belittle, are words that speak from our own field of hate, fear, shame and disrespect.

Humanity is the artwork.

Our job is to move towards dignity, respect, compassion, understanding. To not leave anyone behind in our haste for progress. To hold the field for both diversity of opinion and collective and individual evolution. 

Photo taken February 11th 2022