Being moderate is not always helpful

published on 01 June 2024

Most of the times it is. It is something I also cultivate and live by.

But let’s polarise a bit the moderation. It’s not always useful.

Broadly, depolarisation is the process of reducing conflict between people about a certain topic, in a political/ideological context.

🏔️ The core tools of depolarisation are fantastic: empathy, effective communication, cognitive dissonance reductiondebiasing and critical thinking, with major utility for everyday life.

Depolarisation is unhelpful in (at least) two scenarios.

1️⃣ As an end: depolarising just for the sake of it simply ceases to be what it should - a healthy byproduct of open discussion and empathy. Instead it transforms into a mere appearance exercise for superficial harmony.

A corollary of Goodhart’s Law: when a measure becomes the target it ceases to be a good measure. It should be a way of approaching life, not an end goal.

2️⃣ When there is time urgency: important social changes often arise from passionate advocacy. Moderation can slow progress when urgency is required.

Depolarising is not being moderate towards every subject.

But what is definitely helpful is to moderate our emotional response to what might trigger strongly ingrained beliefs.

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