What’s the one thing holding us back now? We still see ourselves as separate. The first social hurdle we had to overcome was me versus you. Now what we need to overcome is us versus them. Tribalism runs deep in humanity. It’s a shame to allow fundamentally trivial differences cause wars and greed.
Inclusion is the only way forward. We must learn how to think for the collective as a world view. Individuality can be freeing but when permitted to overflow, it could become what holds us back. It’s easy to scoff at some of the repetitive inclusive messages we receive in today’s world - but it is absolutely necessary. If there’s one thing that has been discovered about the brain, it’s that we are prone to exposure bias. What is familiar, appears to be “right”. See something often enough, it’s no longer out of place. It’s right where it should’ve been all along. Exposure to other cultures and and an overarching message of inclusion prevalent in the public space is a good thing. No doubt it’s marketable - which has increased its pervasiveness, but it has been one of the few positive outcomes of capitalism. It’s forcing us to become recognisable to each other. We’re not quite there yet, not totally. Humanity are terrible learners. There is hope though that we can make that change, however, if we’re given enough time. One only needs to compare society 50 years ago to vomit a little about how terribly we could treat another.