This fellow here talks about how we didn't see Brexit coming:
It's similarly applicable to how we won't see Trump coming, buoyed by the hope that Trudeau's sunny ways will stem the tide of extremism.
Our generation's greatest failing is how little emotional discomfort we allot ourselves. We streamline our relationships to "what brings us joy" and unfriend those who disagree with our political posts on facebook. We tend to talk only to the people who agree with us, despite, sometimes, living and working in close proximity to those who don't.
More and more, we tend to choose to live and work with only those who agree with us.
I'm part of a community of people who are building a house together. We've been very intentional in being "diverse," which is wonderful. But in reality, the sort of people who actively choose to be a part of this community are already self-selected to be rather successful. We have to have the cash to join the company, as well as the capacity to take the enormous risk of being a developer.
The group is progressively-minded and together we are learning a great deal about, amongst other things, consensus building and co-living. It's fantastic by all measures of "what brings me joy." But I worry that I've just committed myself to another echo chamber for the next 30 years.
I have wonderful, but typically short, conversations with people outside of my core peer group. How do I use this skill to go beyond my own echo chamber?