Embrace Weirdness
People judge others using the model of their own limitations.
“Weird” people are all around us, yet we still judge them because of that for some reason. You constantly heard comments that someone is “stupid” simply because they do something differently. People say they can’t understand why some would ever act that way, but in most cases, that comment is ignorant and comes from someone who is not truly making an effort to understand the other person. Doesn’t that bother you?
Weirdness is personal. It’s personal to you, not the other way around. If something seems weird to you, that doesn’t mean it feels weird for everybody. Weirdness usually comes from somewhere out of your common view and it exceeds boundaries that you’ve created. People judge others using the model of their own limitations.
However, instead of immediately rejecting weird ideas, what if you tried to embrace them? That doesn’t mean acting in the exact same way, and, in fact, you don’t even have to agree with the viewpoint, but you should try to make an effort to understand the idea behind it. You’ll likely learn something from it and add that insight to your own perspective.
The power of embracing weirdness lies in the undeniable fact that you are not the smartest person in every room you enter. Don’t forget that there are plenty of smart people around you, all of whom have some weird things going on in their lives. Sometimes you agree with them and sometimes you don’t, but remember — your concept of weirdness is derived from your limited ability to cope with new and uncomfortable things.
“People are strange . . .” ― Jim Morrison
Imagine if the ancient Greeks hadn’t embraced the contradictory idea of taking power from a single leader or a small group of individuals and giving it to the people. Their weird idea gave birth to democracy and freedom of speech. Without that weird event, perhaps we would still live in a world of autocratic power.
In our everyday lives, we tend to forget the power behind freedom of speech and take it for granted. Even today, we see horrible violations of that freedom around the world. For example, North Korean people are not allowed to doubt, be curious, make mistakes, explore, and share their ideas. These policies are not only uncomfortable for individuals, but they also cause dramatic ripples throughout the country. Everyone’s ability to learn and evolve is seriously damaged — they are living in a world of terror, so ongoing development of ideas and society is simply not happening.
Even though I do not agree with the North Korean ideology, I do see the great benefit in understanding why those weird things have been set up in that way and what effect they have. As always, it is better to learn from the mistakes of others instead of your own.
We see serious problems in their political and cultural models, but why do we still fall back to similar versions of that obviously broken logic in our own lives? Why do we think that we’re smarter than the people next to us or believe that the best ideas in an organisation come strictly from the top? Why are we scared to challenge these ideas and break out of this restrictive mindset?
There’s a whole category of people who miss out by not allowing themselves to be weird enough — Alain de Botton
You see, even if you do not agree with something (disallowing freedom of speech), going through a bad experience helps you to understand the power in that action (development of people). That way, it can help you to strengthen your perspective and apply the positive side of these ideas to your daily life.
Now and the Future
It’s easy to look back and agree with successful occasions of weirdness in the past, but it’s much harder to put yourself in a position where you are moving against the popular tide. As a technocrat, I regard Elon Musk as a great example of an innovator who has managed to swim against the current long enough to make us finally realise that he might be right. Electric cars for everyone? A privatised space program? These ideas sounded ridiculous for most people a few years ago, but now these “weird ideas” just might become our reality.
What about the future? When you look around, do you notice ideas and people who are weird? Can you make an effort to understand the logic behind that weird thing? Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to find some new friends or ideas. Or, perhaps you’ll find something with which you do not agree, but can use that to make your perspective even stronger.
If you think people in your life are normal, then you undoubtedly have not spent any time getting to know the abnormal side of them.
— Shannon L. Alder
