The Ego Strut
There’s a certain swagger in assuming that everyone who disagrees with you is just plain ignorant. It’s the kind of arrogance that struts like a frontman, convinced the spotlight was built just for them, almost Jagger style – during the stage of his life between stardom & maturity.
It’s the result of people captured by algorithms who find it impossible to look & think beyond the way their opinions have been manipulated. The reality is – it’s not even themselves – it is the narrative of where they have been herded to. Algorithms remove the thinking & work to convince that you are so ‘well-educated’ (read: ‘indoctrinated’) on the matter that any difference of opinion is pure ignorance.
And voila – that’s probably what’s driving today’s ping-pong-posts of arrogance in this modern algorithmic world. Finding middle ground between two opinionated algorithms seems more necessary than ever before. And it requires human intervention!
The spotlight has become blinding
If you’ve been staring at it for too long; thinking you’re the only one with the facts, with the real truths of the world, that’s not insight – it’s a solo with no rhythm section. They’re boring, repetitive beats invading society as ‘opinionated dividers’. You’re just playing loud & alone, like every other player who’s reading from the same music sheet on the same instrument.
In a world of ideas, arrogance shows up like a lead guitarist who refuses to listen to the drummer. Loud, flashy & convinced that volume equals power. But real wisdom, the rock-solid, gut-punching wisdom, is more punk than polished. It’s rough around the edges. It listens. It doesn’t try to drown everyone else out. It knows the magic happens in the interplay, the push & the pull, the tension that gives music & life – its energy.
Humility doesn’t stand at the back of the room whispering apologies
No, it walks right up to the mic & says, “I don’t know everything, but I’m here to listen, learn & maybe jam with your ideas for a while.” It’s not about surrendering your voice. It’s about knowing you don’t need to crush someone else’s to be heard.
We’ve been wired to treat disagreement like it’s a battle – someone’s gotta win, someone’s gotta walk. But real conversation isn’t about domination. It’s about connection.
The art of debate has lost its edge in a world more interested in shouting matches than listening sessions. When two arguments go head-to-head, you’re not always looking at right & wrong; you’re seeing two versions of the same song, played in different keys.
Disagreeing with someone doesn’t mean they’re clueless
They’ve simply travelled a different road, stood in a different storm, heard a different rhythm in the chaos. Their life might be cut to a soundtrack you’ve never heard. You can’t judge someone’s values by their volume, their politics, or the last vote they cast.
You won’t know where they’re coming from until you sit down & actually hear the lyrics behind the noise. Even actions; those raw, real moments can be misread. What made perfect sense back then might feel like feedback now. Or maybe it still stands as their finest hour. People grow. They remix. And sometimes, if you give them space to speak, you’ll hear a harmony you didn’t expect.
And when it’s patched together from scars, moments & midnight thoughts – it’s lived. It’s not lifted from someone else’s feed!
You’ve got to stop assuming they’re lost.
Not every difference is a knowledge gap. Sometimes it’s a value gap. And values don’t come from books. They come from life – lived hard, fast, messy, beautiful. Sure, your parents may have been Democrat or Liberal – and so were you – until you learnt to think for yourself; that’s if you actually took the time out to do the thinking!
You don’t get to think independently by memorising lyrics; you get it from feeling the bass line in your chest at 2am, when the world feels like it’s coming alive or coming apart. We fight over ideas like we’re trying to win a crowd. But maybe what we need is to respect that not every voice is trying to outshine ours – some – even those with a different opinion – are trying to harmonise.
Finding the middle ground
… between two algorithms could be seen as two wildly different tracks to create a remix that speaks to more than one crowd. It’s not about watering down the message, it’s about tuning in to the shared frequencies underneath the noise. Algorithms, like ideologies, are coded with bias, rhythm & intent.
But somewhere between the programmed echo chambers & click-driven chaos lies a space where resonance is possible. A place where the beat slows down & speeds up, where it lolls, swoons or energises, where curiosity replaces certainty & where connection overrides division. A much more interesting place to feel – as a human that is! There’s no soul in constructing humanism through algorithms, unless it’s in recognising the fracture we’ve been fed.
Where humanity finds hope again
We have to find the space inbetween the algorithms & reside there. The middle ground is where ‘understanding’ lives, whether raw, real, unrehearsed. It’s a state. An ever changing state. If we can meet there, not to win but to listen, we might just find melody in the static & changing viewpoints.
And even if disagreement is the rhythm section of change, do we want to disagree with music harmony or like an out-of-tune trombone?
It’s what makes the music evolve
When everyone just nods along, we’re just stuck in the same tired tune.
Do you want innovation?
Do you want to rise?
Then learn to hear dissent not as disrespect, but as the sound of something new breaking through. The ones who challenge your thinking? They’re your true collaborators. Even if they don’t know it yet.
This world doesn’t need more people convinced they’re right
It needs more people brave enough to admit they don’t know everything, curious enough to ask questions & humble enough to shut up & listen. That’s the real rise in rebellion. That’s rock ‘n’ roll. Not just playing your own song, but hearing someone else’s & realising it’s got a beat you never even knew you could relate to.
So next time someone pushes back
… don’t reach for the volume knob to shout them down. Step back. Tune in. Ask what matters to them. Not just what they know – but why they care? You might not walk away in agreement, but you’ll walk away with something better: respect.
And in a world addicted to division, respect is the one sound that still cuts through.
Of course, sometimes respect is simply an agreement to disagree
But at least you listened. At least you thought about it. That’s no small thing. And if you didn’t take it as a battle cry – that’s big. Now, if only we could train our politicians & biased-journalists out of this playbook (they are paid to pick a side I expect).
They’ve perfected the art of algorithm exploitation. In fact, they are the content creators of the algorithm, feeding it daily – and feeding ‘from it’ too. It’s what a cycle of constant, expanding, self-reinforcing noise sounds like. When reporting strays from the facts, in order to divide opinions, personal attack becomes the norm. The truth gets buried beneath performance, provocation & clickbait; to a point thatr it can drown out everything else. Where does your awarenes gauge sit?
