The crisis of values | Jan Lubaczewski | TEDxYouth@BatorySchool
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVzWs6a3gs8 Video ID: UVzWs6a3gs8 ============================================================ Values are our moral principles. They will guide us in life. So what does it mean if there's a crisis of values? I will get to answering that question later. But for now, the current situation must be analyzed. In my opinion, undergoing one of the largest revolutions of values in modern history. For the first time, the western world has rejected religion as the primary form of guidance. Instead, we have seen the rise of two different groups per side. One is the general left which includes the LGBT community activism and other communities and movements that can be classified as w and of course we have the other side. to the surge in popularity of characters such as Andrew Tate. But it's not only Andrew T. It's the whole community of basically right-wing males. Young people currently are in a situation where they can choose between two polar opposites. These two sides constantly at war with each other are only pushing each other to even further extremes. You might be thinking, well, where else other than the left or the right could they go? But I will be asking that question later as well. We're turning into extreme opposites. We're in a situation where somebody will always be criticized for something they identify with a value. So they will be criticized for literally their identity. This is especially true of us not seeing, commenting, sharing everything we see on the internet. There will always be someone trying to disprove our beliefs or trying to make us feel guilty about them. Is this how healthy society functions? Just automatically seeing the other side as a kind of enemy. What has happened to get us here? Remember when I said that the internet and our absorption in it kind of quantifies the spread of criticism and well the consequences are you greater? We have Tik Tok for example with it short for content. It has the ability to reach millions within seconds. But this very structure promotes postification of complex issues. The Tik Tok algorithm is designed to feed users with content that they like. It doesn't care about presenting all the sizes. It cares about what keeps you scrolling. The screen holds a paradox where users are only exposed to viewpoints that confirm their already existing beliefs. We also have the media and the news which is currently fragmented to fit specific ideologies for specific audiences. Political propaganda is now more subtly embedded into everyday news. Whether it's through just basic bias while commenting or selective reporting, it doesn't matter. But the general goal has shifted from promoting understanding to pushing a certain narrative. The pinnacle though is the literal algorithm of bias that is functioning pretty much everywhere on the internet. It prioritizes engagement over accuracy. So people have only shown things that they will agree with. Now what is the problem with all of this? It polarizes especially the young population. We almost fall into a trap where becomes unimaginable to us how someone has the opposite opinion. Even hearing out the other side becomes inexplicable to us. But what if things were different? Imagine a society where in the face of disagreement, our first instinct is to listen not to admire. where we first try to understand, not persuade. Where we acknowledge that behind every point, every political belief, every opinion, there is a human being just like us that has gone through experiences and struggles of their own and has hopes and fears just like us. Empathy is at the core of this approach. In a world guided by empathy, instead of asking how could they believe that, we could ask what has made them believe that could ask what experiences have made them believe that. Or if they have seen the evidence that we have seen, what still makes them believe that? Empty doesn't mean that we always have to agree. On the contrary, it recognizes that we won't always agree, but that that is not a reason for division and hate, but an opportunity to grow, an opportunity to see the world through a different lens, a different perspective. Compassion takes empathy one step further. With compassion, we don't just acknowledge another person's feelings. We care for them. We acknowledge that they have their own reasons. They have their own experiences and struggles because we humans we all have peers. We all fear loss. We all fear change. So when two sides meet with compassion, the ending may not be hostility but in kindness and actually supporting each other forward. At the heart of any human centered approach is love. Not a romantic love but the kind of season her work in everyone. Imagine a world guided by love. Imagine if in the when we see this agreement we celebrate it. We see it as a part of the human experience and we celebrate the fact that we have and that we are all not the same. What about forgiveness through political, cultural, religious division and all? But what if we chose to forgive? Not to forget, but to forgive, to [Music] heal. What if we chose to acknowledge that we all human beings? we can only make mistakes and thus through forgiveness we can find a way to move forward because at the end of the day we all trying to do good but we just have different definitions of what is good. So what if things were different? What if empathy, compassion, love, forgiveness were the key principles that guided us? if they were the ones that influenced our everyday life, our interactions with other people and how we have acted upon disagreement. It wouldn't mean ignoring our differences or pretending that we don't have [Music] disagreements, but it would mean cherishing our mutual experiences and our mutual journey through the world. So it's not the question of whether we'll all agree on something one day because we probably won't. It's the question of what kind of society do we want to live in. The choice is ours. Thank you. [Applause]