If the world around you feels like it is moving too fast and trending a bit too dark, there might be some pretty clear reasons. The past few years have ushered in cultural change at a magnitude that few, if any, of us can come to close to comprehending.
Five forces — in just over five years — have ushered a wave of cultural change that is, admittedly, hard to manage. And, for those in the business of community-building, such as educators and non-profit strategists, these forces are hard at work opposing our efforts.
So, what are these five forces and what do they mean for our future?
#MeToo - For some of us, the #MeToo movement may seem like a long time ago, but it gained mainstream media attention just five years ago. The movement actually started in 2006 when founded by survivor and activist Tarana Burke. However, #MeToo really gained pop culture traction in 2017 with the world waking up to the magnitude of sexual violence through a series of high profile cases of marginalization of women.
#BlackLivesMatter - The #BLM movement gained public traction in 2013. As a movement, it is a decentralized effort to highlight the deaths and acts of police brutality against black individuals, including Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, among many others. The goal of #BLM is to highlight and orchestrate needed cultural and systemic change.
Normalization of Political Division and Hate - The presidential elections of 2016 and 2020, the ensuing Trump presidency, and the insurrectionist movement have all served to fuel a public divided and a normalization of hateful speech experienced everyday throughout the world. Whether you like it or not, we have normalized shout-downs and call outs on social media, hateful rhetoric, and divisive language in pop culture. It is now the norm.
Confirmation Bias, Social Media, and Media Consumption - With greater polarization in mainstream culture, people have sought confirmation of their own ideologies through a more divided media, news, and social channels. Rather than seek to understand others with different views, our culture has become more divided and segmented into categories along the political spectrum, and we follow those groups in the news and media we choose. Again, this is an incredibly tough challenge to overcome when you are in the business of building community, which, by definition, requires diversity of people and thought.
Global Pandemic - The coronavirus pandemic was the fuel that burned the fire. It served as a catalyst and accelerant to these issues, creating more division and isolation in our culture. It highlighted those marginalized in most sectors, from finance, healthcare, employment, education, and housing, and continues to do so. It didn’t cause the problem; it magnified it.
Five forces in five years. They seem to have changed everything. And, so fast.
I am not arguing that any of these changes did not exist before the past few years. They did - but they came of age only more recently. And, simultaneously.
Any one of these issues would have historically created a cultural inflection point for decades. But, all together, in such short time, they represent a pivot so significant we must pause. We must contemplate. What does this all mean?
Over the course of the next few weeks we will unpack these challenges as it relates to the work of education and community building.