we like black and white, it's easy
greys murky the water, but it's where humanisation begins
Sonder - the understanding that everyone has lives as complex and intricate as your own.
One of the easiest ways to build hate towards someone is to dehumanise them. To be reductive. Strip them of their complexities and circumstances and instead, home in on a singular trait, expanding it to cover their whole personhood.
This is especially easily done in the age of clickbait titles and viral 140-character statements. It allows our every decreasing attention spans to make snap judgements and quickly pick sides. We like black and white, it’s easy. Greys murky the water.
Conversely, recognising the humanity in someone else, allows for the realisation of commonality to begin. After all, you too are human. Through this, a sense of empathy and connection emerges.
- one and the sameblog
“I didn't understand how far that could go, how literally someone could be flattened into a symbol and then destroyed for what the symbol supposedly proved, until I saw it happen to Jason…”