How divided are we as a world? It seems like we can no longer say “agree to disagree” and get on with life. We have to accuse people who disagree with us as being morally bankrupt, but usually with more offensive word choices. When we talk about diversity in hiring we talk about diversity in skin color and gender, but not about ideas.
Now, I don’t actually drink alcohol, at all. But I’m urging you to watch this beer commercial from Heineken, U.K. It’s absolutely, positively worth your time.
(You’ll have to click through to see the video. I know I’m being mean, but I get paid by the hit at Inc.)
In the commercial, people who aren’t told what the purpose of the experiment is are given a few tasks to do. The trick is, the producers have chosen people who are political polar opposites. The people don’t know that, though, they just know they have to complete the series of tasks.
To keep reading and see the video, click here: The Beer Commercial Everyone Needs to See
Very powerful.
One of the most confounding phenomena I’ve observed is when — in this era of fake news and so-called “alternative facts” — people automatically assume that anyone they disagree with about anything must be on the opposite end (from them) of the political spectrum. On the same day, I was accused by different people of being a Fascist, then a Marxist, when I am neither and would probably be fairly described as close to being a centrist! 🙂
My teen has a friend who is an avowed communist. When asked why she likes communism she says “I really like small government.”
Some people are just dumb.
I can’t love this enough.
Thank you for posting this.
I read your blog but very seldom follow the links, I am glad I made the decision to follow this one. It was very powerful and well worth my time. Thank you for sharing.
So it’s pretty obvious that I have different political views from you but I appreciate that you don’t block or delete comments that disagree. Funny to see the [squidlips] substitution sometimes 🙂
I really really really can’t watch news on tv anymore. There is so much yelling and talking to death on the 24 hour networks, and so much processing to fit into a short timeslot on the other ones. Yay for newspapers!
J.B. Thanks! I’m all about free exchanged of ideas. I don’t do bad language, but I’m happy to hear everything else.
I really think it’s possible for good people to have differing political ideas.
This would be every HR Manager’s dream come true. Oh, the time I would save to devote to other things like compensation studies!!
Fantastic video – it demonstrates that differences don’t have to divide us. Understanding and listening are key.