2016 - The scary year of group-think? Some observations.

I am already starting to think what we will remember 2016 for. And its slowly becoming very apparent. With the US presidential race getting extremely heated and revealing its stereotypical black & white sides. With the Ghostbusters movie boasting Adam Sandler level humour and defending itself with an fan-breaking all female cast. With the Oscars shaking its liberal moral superiority with a whole 3 hour show focused on feeding through the message that roles for minorities should be emphasized. This is the year where Twitter continues to tumble not only in share price but also in active user numbers and fresh sign ups, where its desperately trying to satisfy a morally better select few(By establishing an Internal Safety Council with questionable members).

What I am trying to demonstrate is what we are seeing a 2016 in which collective groups regardless of their righteousness and worth of their cause are getting their way into companies products and services. The normality in which all are equal and have a right to their view is diminishing. Once an idea is planted it is reinforced as a truth, regardless of the hard facts, statistics and data. This was a clear cut case with the Oscars affair, where the data actually pointed to a completely different ethnic minority being misrepresented. Obviously the data which pointed to this evidence was committed as the original seed of boycott was completely different.

We see this time and time again. And it is wrong. I believe we humans make the most informed decisions with satisfactory data and logical analysis. Our emotional bearings always play a role however, and many sadly will only follow those. We need to practice to be more aware of this. Joining up with group-think of moral superiority however will not be an answer to a better society nor to a better future.

Sure, challenging the current narrative is always good and done by the few brave. After all, there is always a room for improvement. Especially after the questionable progress that we saw in 2015. But with this strong social moral bias we are witnessing, it is worrying how this change is coming about. Too many “strong” tags are utilized or thrown-about which are losing their original meaning.. looking at you “triggered”, “sexist” &“racist”.

I do hope that as we experience more of what 2016 has to offer, the course will change for the better, less judgmental side of society and my predictions will be utterly wrong!