Exclusivity and a Blaming Attitude Are Poison

When people encounter something different from themselves, they instinctively tend to adopt an exclusionary or blaming attitude.

While an exclusionary or blaming attitude may offer a momentary sense of relief, it rarely leads to good outcomes in the long run. When someone takes such an attitude, the other person feels criticized, which actually makes them less likely to change.

• (private:R2022-10 이윽고 슬픈 외국어)
  • Haruki Murakami stayed in the United States during the 1990s, when American patriotism was at an all-time high. Naturally, Americans adopted a highly exclusionary attitude toward Japanese people (owing in part to the various economic circumstances of the time). Murakami felt deeply uncomfortable in that atmosphere and came to love America a little less.
  • Discrimination is something you cannot truly understand unless you are on the receiving end of it. That is precisely why one must be careful not to discriminate.

Further thoughts

• Occasionally, even when I see something that differs from my own thinking, I describe it as “breaking the mold.” When exactly is that?