Psychology Can Fix This
All we need do is reverse it!
Some high-profile companies use psychology when they interview a potential employee. The candidate walks into an intimidating environment with big pillars outside the building, shiny marble floors in the lobby and an exquisite elevator bigger and more elaborate than your kitchen!
Hopefully the interview process allows the candidate to make the final step in meeting the CEO. And if so as expected, the office is amazing, mind-blowing and the immense desk separates the two of them by miles. Managing the stress of intimidation and overwhelm appear to be key in acquiring this position. For the applicant there is an attempt to being controlled, an awareness of condescendence, and some non-verbal bullying tactics. Some people do well under these conditions and become successful in their industry and others have zero interest in that game. So what would happen if we did the opposite of what these high-profile companies do?
We have a country extremely divided by hate, discrimination, misunderstandings and filled with terror. The communication breakdown makes the situation so much worse and there doesn’t seem to be a way to reverse it. At this point it may take a miracle and many lives lost before anyone is ready to sit down and LISTEN to each other. But I’ll give you something pretty extreme to think about.
What if there was a common ground location for the top leaders of both sides to meet? I am not talking about leaders of the domestic terrorists or the idiots who slither their way through the streets inciting violence. All legitimate leaders would be dressed in clean, unnripped jeans, clean white unripped, unwritten tee shirts and sneakers. Jeans would need to fit over the buttocks properly how they were made to be worn. Piercings need to be left at home and tattoos covered. City leaders and law enforcement would need to abstain from their high and mighty attitudes, righteousness, any condescending and moral authority.
The location would be inside an open area where no masks are allowed! The layout for the meeting is composed of chairs only, placed in a circle. Of course there’s distancing but full disclosure of all non-verbal communication is vital, including everyone’s arms unfolded and hands resting on their laps. I should not need to mention that all weapons are forbidden. Any person who elevates their voice in a manner not conducive to the success of this nation will need to leave. Nobody would be allowed to come to the meeting with a serious issue without having a sensible solution that is fair to everyone. If anyone comes to the meeting with a problem without a solution they will be asked to leave; it would be obvious that they are part of the problem.
If everyone looked and sounded alike, would there be a way to find any common ground solution for just one issue and avoid profiling? The answer is yes because everything that incites violence, intimidation or agitation no longer exists. How’s that for extreme?!
Now I’m not sure how many people or how many common ground meetings is advisable but you get the gist of this. Make everyone feel comfortable enough to drop their guard. Give them a feeling of a level playing field to communicate effectively, eliminating the stereotyping. I’ll bet that more progress would be made and more questions answered than there are now with the fighting and killing on the streets. We need to start somewhere so let’s make it simple and balanced and keep the damn politics out of it.
We need to move forward from this
