Why Everyone On Steemit Would Benefit From Watching Divergent THE MOVIE

"Whales are soooo selfish!" "Is UBI Socialist?" Everyone should do and shouldn't do -insert opinion-... urgggghhhh... okay so what does this have to do with the movie? Read on.

This is a quick rant so forgive the lack of fancy formatting.

Divergent is set in a post-apocalyptic dystopic world of sorts where the primary colony is divided into factions (groups) based on common values. People stick with their group because they think alike and do similar things. These can be thought of as religions, cultures, societies, or any group with common goals and principals. They're all very predictable.

There are also people who are divergent. These are those who have more than one set of values or could be considered multicultural, new-age, centrist, ambiguous, or otherwise not having a single identity. Sometimes the divergent are hiding as part of a faction, and sometimes they're part of the factionless— the people who for whatever reason are classless, therefore outcastes of the society.

While there are many subtle lessons in this movie— especially pertaining to psychology, sociology, and social psychology— the biggest lesson in the movie is that people are truly different in many ways, and yet are equally valid. A secondary but more important lesson is that differences lead to genuine misunderstandings that often lead to idolization and demonization— and as a consequence, war.

There is a critical scene which makes this ever so relatable— when an Abnegation (selfless) and an Erudite (selfish) argue. In this scene, we see that the Erudite sees life from a self-centrifugal perspective. The Erudite believes their must be a selfish motive behind the selfless things the Abgnigation does. He simply cannot wrap his head around selflessness. Likewise, Abnegation is so other-centered, these cannot wrap their head around those who give a damn about themselves— because to them, self-preservation is wrong.

Such would be a good example of when a Masochist and Hedonist try to understand each other.

To a masochist, self-suffering feels right.

To a hedonist, self-suffering feels wrong.

Strangely enough, most of the world is highly religious and most religions and spiritual paths train people in masochism. However, we are all born biologically hedonistic— to avoid pain. The religious and medical (sanity) contexts of the discussion is another discussion but the reason I think Steemians would benefit from watching this movie is because, like the movie, and like all Social Media (and the internet) we have people with different values and rules, ideas of right and wrong, concepts of authority, concepts of entitlements, etc.— all mingling.

When we get into discussions of RIGHT vs WRONG, be it morally or behaviorally, here or anywhere, one man's HELP is another man's CONTROL. One person's love is another person's toxicity.

How does this play out in the real world?

EXTREMELY private people tend to have the opinion that exhibitionists are ANNOYING, bold, shameless, vain, braggadocios, and narcissists.

EXTREMELY transparent or exhibitionist people tend to have the opinion that private people are secretive, deceptive, up to something sneaky, and shameful.

Deeply, FYI, in most cases, the other wishes they were a little more like the other, lol.

Neither one is wrong or right about the other. It's subjective, comparative, and relative.

Anyhow, they demonize each other on the basis of this one value. The difference in values causes a conflict and toxicity, simply by coexisting, and the result is GETTING TRIGGERED.

What does it mean to be triggered?

It happens in two ways. First, when something reminds you of something abusive. But newsflash, we are all constantly abused and abusing each other— usually by accident. Such is life. The other is by subconcious disengagment and demonizing. A good example of this is whenever some people see a pentagram they automatically think, "DEVIL, RUN, EVIL, MURDER THE WITCH."

I won't go in here on the topics of mind control and conditioning human mammals— and I may never. What I wanted to share here is that this movie is a great way to understand that you're not always right (and neither am I.)

If you want to learn more about ending cycles of shame and subtle control over others (perhaps because it sucks when people control you and shame you also) you may want to consider looking at this article about why you SHOULD remove SHOULD from your vocabulary... irony intended.

Lastly, I'm not exempt. I wish that heaven were more like my heaven too. My heaven and your heaven might look different. I wish the world were more like the world I would be happiest in also. Even though yours might have my head on a plate for dinner. I wish Steemit would be more like I envisioned it to be. And I'm sure others, more powerful with money, or more powerful with manpower, would envision it differently.

Tolerance, acceptance, or separatism is never real or even possible. It's impossible. It's mathematically improbable whereas it's more likely the sun were to explode right now and kill everyone.

What IS possible is learning. What is possible is love. What is possible is negotiation and allegiance.

End rant