You down wit' O.P.P.? Maybe...

"If one does not understand a person, one tends to regard him as a fool" - Carl Jung

Who could resist this 1991 hit from Naughty By Nature? It was described as a light-hearted song about infidelity, complete with a melodic hook and samples from the Jackson Five’s ABC. Although the lyrics would get raunchy at times, they were actually very cleverly written, as follows:

OPP, how can I explain it
I'll take you frame by frame it
To have y'all jumpin' shall we singin' it
O is for Other, P is for People scratchin' temple
The last P... well... that's not that simple

When it came to cheating in a relationship, Treach only wanted to know one thing, over and over again - “You down wit’ OPP?” I must admit that I never analyzed the words to any depth before responding “Yeah, you know me!” As a boomer with grown daughters, I still very much like the song, but mostly for the nostalgia of it.

Following one of my recent posts, which was a sarcastic take on Fossil Fuels, I received a rather lengthy and thoughtful comment. It was the thoughtful nature of the comment that struck me, as the person who commented offered what seemed to be a compromising position, when in fact he was merely raising differing viewpoints. I immediately thought about an article I read on critical thinking that started by asking a question - what’s the first clue that you are not a critical thinker? I also recalled the countless stories over the last several years detailing accounts of family members and long-time friends suddenly at each other’s throats - to the point that all communication has been cut off. Why is this happening now? Haven’t we all had our differences over the years, only to come together over common ground? Is it our means of communication, where we use our fingers to communicate instead of our voices? Is it the constant barrage of politics into every facet of our daily lives? Hmm… not sure.

Oh, the answer to the critical thinking question - everyone in your group thinks the same way. If this is the case, there is no concept of OTHER PEOPLE. But we all know that other people exist - perhaps it’s time that we get down with OTHER PEOPLE, and as Treach said “The last P… well… that’s not that simple.”

Party On!

We can all count on Elon Musk to shake things up, and he certainly did with a recent flurry of Tweets, starting with his support of a Hispanic republican in Texas, and culminating with the idea of backing moderate candidates.

Looks like Elon is down with OPP - Other People’s Party.

I love this idea - another Party to choose from - one that doesn’t require purity or litmus tests. This plays right into the heart of the concept for SixtyEightPointTwo, one that postulates that the real power of this country lies in the 68.2 % of the population that fall one standard deviation from center - or as Elon Musk puts it - Moderate territory. However, with the current divisions in our social dialogue, caused primarily by the loudest voices on the extremes, we must force ourselves to not only consider Other People, but the Panoply of traits that make us all unique.

Psychology

One’s personality is shaped by many psychological factors, with the top of the list being how we experience others in our daily lives. Are we able to sense the emotions or feelings of others, connect with them on a cognitive level - the veritable “walk a mile in their shoes”? Or do we go about our daily lives completely discounting the circumstance of others, responding with “just pull yourself up by the bootstraps”. In short, do we have empathy when it comes to dealing with others? I must admit that as I grow older, I have a tendency to jump right past the walking part and go straight to the bootstraps argument. As a matter of fact, one time I was actually called apathetic, but what do I care?

Paterfamilias

One of my favorite commercials is the Progressive commercial about young homeowners turning into their parents. I know it’s supposed to be funny, but some of the examples hit way too close to home.

What’s so bad about getting an update on the flight?

If you think about it, where else are we supposed to learn about the world? All those times during our formative years when we rolled our eyes, some things must have been absorbed. As such, we are all a product of our upbringing, whether we believe it or not. Suppose two friends grow up with parents, especially fathers, on the opposite side of an issue such as the handling of certain behaviors. On the one hand, you may have a permissive parent that lets a few things go, while the authoritative parent may lay down rules that seem excessive. Each child, living his own experience, doesn’t necessarily have the ability to question his parents’ behavior - they merely see it as the way it’s supposed to be. Fast forward into adulthood, and these lived experiences may unconsciously lead us in one direction or another, without taking even a moment to consider other alternatives.

Preferences

Who knows what drives people to prefer one thing or another? Why do I love Dumb and Dumber, while my wife only agrees that the title is quite accurate? Each and every day, we use our preferences to dictate how our lives will play out, from who we will interact with to what we will order at a restaurant to why we wear certain clothing. When exactly did we decide that certain preferences are allowable, while others are not? What about the old axiom of “live and let live”?

Profession

I added this to the list of Ps because I must admit that I am a little thin skinned when it comes to global warming, climate change, or whatever poll-tested words seem to work these days. Rather than engage in a conversation that accepts the pros and cons of the fossil fuel industry, I tune folks out, aggressively defending the industry that has been my home for over 35 years. Perhaps the next time I am confronted with contributing to the destruction of our plant, I will pause a beat…and understand that there can always be growth, both personally and professionally.

All of the above can be best summed up with a final P - PERSPECTIVE. If we would all take each other’s perspective into account, perhaps we can get passed the initial layer of vitriol and hatred, making real conversation possible. To accomplish this, we need to stop allowing the loudest voices on the extremes to drown out the inner dialogue that we have always trusted. The loud voices are there to divide us by taking away the possibility of any perspective - you’re either this or that. And we all know we’re not. Don’t let some unknown entity trim your guest list - it’s time to reconnect and bring more folks to the party, the Other People’s Party. And if we are truly open to the idea of “OTHERS”, we may find more “BROTHERS” united in common interests.

You down wit’ OPP? From this point forward - Yeah, you know me!