When I arrived home last night I did the quick round of goodnight kisses and tuckins for the kids before I retired downstairs to have some dinner and unwind after a days work.
As most of you would also do, I’m guessing, I flicked on the TV to see what was on so I could have a bit of a distraction while I ate — fortunately I didn’t have to shout out
What I did come across was a Channel 4 debate about what the UK should be doing about Brexit and the whole no deal that Borris is trying to pass. Before we go on, I voted to remain, but that vote was lost (I could have said we lost that vote…. but you’ll see why I didn’t later on).
To be honest, I don’t know enough about trade agreements or the long term impact of the decision to stay with or move away from the European Union. In fact, I would hestate a guess that 85% of the people that voted in the referrendum are not qualified to make an educated choice between the two either (given that a lot of the information that parties put forward turned out to be falsehoods).
The fact is, the UK voted in a particular way and the Government have had a long, long time to sort their shit out… but it seems we’re no better off than if we just took the no deal approach the day after the referrendum.
Honestly, I don’t know. But that isn’t why we’re here today. I don’t want to get into a debate about which is the right approach, but instead I wanted to point you in the direction of an article series that explains why most of us are passionate about which way we voted.
And it’s not just about this vote. It is about all the arguments we have. Whether it be between neighbours on the street, between streets, a rivalry between two small neighbouring towns. It manifests itself in premiere league club rivalry, but then dissipates into coutry rivalry when the Euro’s or the World Cup is on.
It’s about how I can get along with everyone at work… until the Ashes start and all of a sudden there’s tension between cricket followers.
So what is it?
Tim Urban is one of my favourite writers (and speakers) with his blog Wait but Why. Tim has a wonderful way of writing and is able to distil the most difficult of topics into simple to understand chunks, and he does all this with an entertaining set of illustrations that go along with it.
Below is a set of three drawings from one of my favourite articles about procrastination.
My other favourite is about the Fermi Paradox, but that is just because I love space.
So good at this stuff, Tim was even called directly by Elon Musk to write a series about what he’s trying to do with Space X. Pretty amazing for a guy who writes and draws on the internet for a living.
Anyway.
Tim has been away and not posting much on his blog for the past two years as he’s been researching and preparing his latest series on Society. The first three articles have already been published and a lot of things about why we argue all the time are much much clearer.
I think that with a better understanding of why we feel so pationately, and more important where others are coming from in their disucssions, can help us better see their point of views and have better discussions about topics rather than arguments for argument sake.
Check out the Story of Us and let me know what you think.