Forming Weird Communities
“Community is much more than belonging to something; It’s about doing something together that makes belonging better.” — Brian Solis
This article is all about breaking down this two-part quote further to analyze the general notion of forming communities that have been prevalent since ages.
How many times have you heard this phrase, “surround yourself with like-minded people” or “connect with the ones with whom you belong”? This notion has always been prevalent in our society for ages. For a moment, if we divert ourselves and look at our society in the past, the caste system was based on the very same notion. Or you may also recall the age-old saying, “One bad fish can spoil the whole pond”. All these statements might feel out of context but trust me it will all fall in place.
Although the society has directed us to always form like-minded communities what if you go against the stream and try to form weird communities or “unlike-minded” communities?
Before moving further on, I would like to clarify what exactly I mean by “like-minded” here. The phrase here means people having the same or similar interests and opinions. So, let us see why forming “weird” communities is a thing to be talked about.
Narrow Outlook
The first drawback of forming like-minded communities that flash on my mind is a narrow outlook. When the world is talking about expanding the horizon and coming up with intricate propositions, like-mindedness is promoting inhibitions. It models the thoughts into well-defined boundaries of the community enforcing rigidity in your beliefs which leads to fallacious handling of situations. The weird communities are all about “creative abrasion”, according to which conflict in opinion leads to real creativity and innovation in a community.
Decision Making
The second point of discussion is, the decision-making process in a like-minded community is almost instantaneous. But the question is, “Are those decisions, right?”. There are instances where a fast decision process is required but also, we cannot overlook the fact that a decision no matter was taken fast or slow must be a quality decision. If you have been following the topic, a fast decision process vs slow decision process, you may know that it is a never-ending debate.
What my point of focus is, what leads to a quality decision? The answer is simple, an optimal amount of information and a good analyzing community. Now, a good analyzing community may be any of the two communities that we discussed above. But what differs here is which of them reaches an optimal amount of information in an optimal average time. If the decision to be taken lies well within the boundaries of a like-minded community then definitely they will be the better functioning ones, but that is not the case always. Most of the time certain external parameters need to be considered and that is where the difference in opinion leads to optimal information which leads to a rational decision.
Comfort Zone
And the last point out of many that I would like to touch here is, “comfort zone”. In a like-minded community, you are always in a comfort zone. Your egos are satisfied as you are always right. You don’t have to worry about misapprehensions, etc. Well, this would have worked well if society functioned like a like-minded community. You need social resilience and pliability in your ideas to thrive in a society that won’t come in you until you are pressure tested. In a weird community, people are always challenging each other’s ideas, there is diplomacy involved, and acceptance by all is rare and hence you thrive to produce ideas that attract maximum appreciation which is a stress-inducing process. The behavior of an unlike-minded community is almost a simulation of the actual functioning of the society.
That’s all I would like to say about my idea of “forming weird communities”.
But can you always prefer to be in an unlike-minded community? The answer is NO.
There is one point where like-minded communities would always ace their counterpart, that is, the ease of communication and an informal environment it achieves. Sometimes, amidst all the stress, you would want to remain in a comfort zone which only a like-minded community can provide.
The Motive
What’s the point of discussing this topic?
Some of you would agree with me on this topic and some of you won’t. The one thing I take away from the idea of “weird” communities is, “How to accept the difference in opinion.” It’s okay to discuss, it’s okay to debate, but it’s not okay to bring each other down just for the sake of an argument.
These are tough times where we are facing growing hatred and critical levels of polarization. With insane headlines occupying the charts, it’s high time that we learn to handle the difference in opinion in a mature way. Interact with the ones who are not you and listen to as many sides of the story as you can. Be flexible with your ideologies as there is no correct one, rather, blend the good from each of them and form a new and enhanced opinion of your own which is focused on compassion and positivity. As in a world full of negativity, a little positivity will always be a ray of hope.
Thoughts? Do let me know in the comments.
