Wilk Wilkinson
speaker
63 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Dec 2024
last heard Dec 2024
Wilk Wilkinson’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
Yeah, if we have these conversations preemptively and don't allow things that are outside of our control to control us, control our relationships, and destroy these relationships that we've had for our whole lives, I mean, obviously, I've seen this thing happen. These things, they destroy people's jobs. They destroy people's finances.
I had a conversation on my podcast with an amazing author and journalist, Bonnie Christian, who had a friend who, you know, because of the whole QAnon thing and the ugliness that was surrounding that and whatever, kind of sold off everything that they had and moved into a camper.
And instead of buying this duplex that could have provided them income in retirement, it's these kind of things, these things that are outside of our control that I see so many people allowing to control themselves, control them now, that it's just one of the ugliest things. And I think we...
as human beings, need to do whatever we can to stem the tide of that polarity, that toxic polarity that people have allowed to take strong hold on.
So prescriptively, I would say, you know, it's really going to be through an education platform of sorts. Not that I, you know, I'm really an educator by trade, by any imagination or anyone's imagination, but But the idea that we have so many, like I said, organizations out there that try to capitalize upon people's grievances and their fears and the things that outrage them is we need to have –
Well, and that's why I'm part of organizations like Braver Angels and the Pro-Human Foundation, showing people that through conversation and real, true, curious listening, you know, through true, curious conversation, we can help people through those things that... that are hurting them, right?
And the concept of grievance grifter, the concept of grievance grifter, I've had some incredible conversations with this and I've had people that I respect in very great fashion try to push back on me on the whole idea of grievances. But we know that grievances, both real and perceived, people can capitalize on those.
And those people that capitalize on those are really trying to keep people in that grievance or victim mentality. But again, let me give you an example that I always think of and so many of the people that I've spoken with, Drew, talk about. And that's the
When we talk about the racial divide and the way that so many people in this country have perpetuated that racial divide is to constantly tell somebody that they have to work twice as hard to get half as much. Now, I'm not saying that that's not the case in certain instances.
But to continuously tell somebody that, going back to what I was saying about the reticular activating system, if you're constantly telling somebody, as in like books like Stamped by Ibram X. Kendi, if you're constantly telling somebody that there's a racist under every bed and a racist hiding in every closet just waiting to... just waiting to bring you down.
If that's part of your platform, what you're actually doing is enforcing a person's reticular activating system to seek out those points of affirmation for that to happen. Now, who's going to be happy in a constant mindset that everything around them is out to get them? Like I said, Gratitude is the genesis of happiness.
And if the only thing that your brain can work on is those things that are feeding into your grievances, whether they be real or perceived, if the only thing that your brain is focusing on is that, that's exactly what you're going to see. If you come to an intersection...
there's a person over here over there and over there and one of those people cuts you off now your brain is going to tell you it's because i i'm i'm it's because of the color of my skin or it's be gonna become uh because of my religion or whatever you know one of the one of my favorite people and i know you know him drew is is dennis prager and and he talks about i believe it was either his father his grandfather somebody cut him off in the car and he's like anti-semite right
And I love that example because when that is the thing that's on top of your mind all the time, that everything wrong that happens in your life is because of some immutable characteristic, you know, whether because you're a Jew or because of some racial category that somebody's placed you in or racialized you as, now all of a sudden everything that goes wrong is because of that particular thing.
Yeah. Those types of learning patterns are what brings us down as a society. It's what stands in the way of our true shared humanity and true happiness in so many cases.
Number one, Drew, is have curious conversations. We have to get back to a time when we can engage with people that we disagree with and do so in a non-contentious way. So have curious conversations and really listen with the intent to understand before we reply, right? Far too many people nowadays are getting into conversations
with the intention to just spew their point of view and not really listen to what the other person is saying. People will be far more inclined to listen to you if they know that you've listened and understood what they have to say. Number two, not every conversation has to be about politics, right?
I long for a time when we could have conversations and have cold beers in the driveway with our friends that just did not have to do with politics. Probably half the text messages and emails I get now are, did you see this? Or did you hear this? Or is this on your radar? And I'm like, okay, there is a lot more else. There's a lot more things in this world going on than just politics.
And then true civic engagement. This country is hungry for a civic renewal and to be engaged with people of all stripes. So get involved in organizations like Braver Angels, which is the largest grassroots movement out there working towards civic renewal and And depolarization. And then Pro Human Foundation is another one.
Like I said, you mentioned in your intro, and I greatly appreciate that, that I'm on the board of advisors for the Pro Human Foundation. Pro Human Foundation is another organization that is absolutely incredible and doing incredible work to promote our shared humanity. You know, we all as individuals are very unique and we all as individuals have failed in certain aspects.
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