Chapter 5: Cognition
"Our struggles are not waged in a controlled environment like the courtroom. We approach people individually on crowded city streets, or try to attract their attention as they whiz their cars. No one is sequestered in a jury box, legally bound to listen to the evidence."
It is very difficult to connect or convince someone else about what you want to say, prove your position or even state your ideas. Many people have so much to do, they don't have the time or energy to try new things or to take them out of their comfort zones. As a public, it's as simple as walking by and your day remains the same as ever, but if something manages to captivate my attention, something will have changed that day.
"Information only makes sense when lined with other information. In order to recall, understand, or use ideas, we need to be able to attach them to other ideas."
There are ideas that sound great in our heads. But when we present them to someone else we need to provide more context so that this person can understand exactly what we mean. And even in situations we must be willing to argue and debate these ideas.
"Researchers have also found that we tend to only consider information that fits into what we already believe."
New ideas are uncomfortable. There are things we can understand but when something new that has never been in our environment is presented to us it is almost unacceptable, difficult to accept, it doesn't make much sense in our reality. This is why we tend to digest more easily new ideas that are within what we know or accept.
Chapter : Persuasion
"When people don't agree with us, and when they don't change their behaviors in the ways we'd like, we too often dismiss them as bull-headed, ignorant, or even stupid."
There are things that make complete sense to us, it is the most rational or logical, but for other people with completely different perspectives and lives than ours may not be, we must understand that although we want to convince a diverse audience, there will be times that we can not and that's fine.
"Ideas and awareness are important. That's how people change their minds and take action."
We need to be conscious in order to take action, we can't just jump into something without being fully aware of what it means, what our intentions are and how we are going to execute it.
"Instead of dismissing people's decisions as ignorant or nonsensical, we can learn to make sense of the thinking behind them."
Expanding our perspectives can help our arguments and ideas have a stronger foundation, make much more sense and reach a wider audience more effectively, taking into account their feelings and ideals.
Performance
This is from Black Contemporary Art.
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| Victoria Santa Cruz (Peru 1922-2014 Peru) Still from Me gritaron negra (They shouted black at me),1978 Documentation of performance, excerpted from the documentary Victoria-Black and Woman, 1978 |
This is a performance I've seen before since it is a very popular performance within latinos. It is a beautiful poem recited in such a strong way along to the rhythms of the drumming and clapping. It speaks of black identity and how it should be embraced and accepted with pride and honor. "And when they called me black, I felt black," as people with lighter skin remarked on this difference that in her childhood innocence she had never realized that she was different from other children only because of the color of her skin. Victoria Santa Cruz tells how she tried to change her looks until one day she realized that it was no reason to straighten her hair or cover her face with make-up. "Yes, I am black". I come from a black heredity who always carried their identity with pride and even though my skin is lighter than theirs and I'm not black. It's still part of me and I should respect and appreciate this beautiful identity, an identity so full of flavor, rhythm, vibrant colors and diverse faces, flashy smiles, and black skin.
"And I'm going to laugh at those who, in order to avoid disgust, call blacks people of color. And what color? Black!"
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