I have talked about how often times, the most limiting factor to our own success is ourselves, either due to fear of trying or lack of imagination of what we can accomplish.
What is important to note, is that this extends beyond the individual to society as well, since society is nothing other than a group of individual people.
What this means from a practical perspective is that there are societal beliefs that are promulgates within each society, that are taken for granted, and assumed to be true by the society, even if as we have seen at an individual level, these beliefs are baseless.
One key problem with baseless beliefs is that they create internal angst due to the fact that there is a divergence between what we know to be true (that the belief is baseless) and what we tell our self is true (that the belief is fact). This dissonance, makes members of that group doubt themselves and their judgement, leading to a downward spiral.
I think that if we look at the current state of Woman’s Liberation or Affirmative Action programs, we can well see where groups of people have ended up promulgating their own false beliefs.
Don’t get me wrong, when these groups started, they added tremendous value breaking barriers and stereotypes. However, over time, the groups began defining themselves by the self-talk of the group, resulting in a self-oppression.
It is the wise TV Writer who knows when to end their show before ratings start going down. However, this talent is seldom seen with societal groups. No one ever stands up and says, “Look we did it. We accomplished equality. We have succeeded.”
That is sad.