I sense that in “normie cultures”[1] directly, explicitly, and unapologetically disagreeing with someone is taboo. It reminds me of the “yes and” from improv comedy.[2] From Wikipedia:
“Yes, and...”, also referred to as “Yes, and...” thinking, is a rule-of-thumb in improvisational comedy that suggests that an improviser should accept what another improviser has stated (“yes”) and then expand on that line of thinking (“and”).
If you want to disagree with someone, you’re supposed to take a “yes and” approach where you say something somewhat agreeable about the other person’s statement, and then gently take it in a different direction.
I don’t like this norm. From a God’s Eye perspective, if we could change it, I think we probably should. Doing so is probably impractical in large groups, but might be worth considering in smaller ones.
(I think this really needs some accompanying examples. However, I’m struggling to come up with ones. At least ones I’m comfortable sharing publicly.)
Nice analogy. The purpose of friendly social communication is not to find the truth, but to continue talking. That makes it similar to the improv comedy.
There is also an art of starting with “yes, and...” and gradually concluding the opposite of what the other person said, without them noticing that you are doing so. Sadly, I am not an expert in this art. Just saying that it is possible, and it’s probably the best way to communicate disagreement to the normies.
Against “yes and” culture
I sense that in “normie cultures”[1] directly, explicitly, and unapologetically disagreeing with someone is taboo. It reminds me of the “yes and” from improv comedy.[2] From Wikipedia:
If you want to disagree with someone, you’re supposed to take a “yes and” approach where you say something somewhat agreeable about the other person’s statement, and then gently take it in a different direction.
I don’t like this norm. From a God’s Eye perspective, if we could change it, I think we probably should. Doing so is probably impractical in large groups, but might be worth considering in smaller ones.
(I think this really needs some accompanying examples. However, I’m struggling to come up with ones. At least ones I’m comfortable sharing publicly.)
The US, at least. It’s where I live. But I suspect it’s like this in most western cultures as well.
See also this Curb Your Enthusiasm clip.
I live in Germany and don’t feel like that’s the case here.
Nice analogy. The purpose of friendly social communication is not to find the truth, but to continue talking. That makes it similar to the improv comedy.
There is also an art of starting with “yes, and...” and gradually concluding the opposite of what the other person said, without them noticing that you are doing so. Sadly, I am not an expert in this art. Just saying that it is possible, and it’s probably the best way to communicate disagreement to the normies.