Focus on the Opposite

On Friday, the French Constitutional Council approved the higher minimum retirement age being raised from 62 to 64. This new legislation was pushed forward aggressively by French President Emmanuel Macron and sidestepped the regular legislative procedures for enacting a new law. It is highly controversial because it involves French labor rights. France serves as an outlier among rich western nations for its emphasis on program for workers, meanwhile people are living longer.

This new law almost ended the French Republic. It’s currently in its 5th version. Millions of French citizens turned out across the country to protest. In the south-western city of Bordeaux, the front door of the city hall was set on fire. And in Paris they stormed the Louis Vuitton store.

The French have a strong protest culture and tke working conditions very seriously. They have a 35-hour work week enforced by Government law. Strikes are also significant part of the culture, Between 2000 and 2009, the annual average of days not worked due to strikes per 1,000 employees in France was 127 days. This type of labor rights culture doesn’t exist in America. However, if you’re trying to understand the nation of France and French identity, this is only half the story.

The World’s richest man is not Elon Musk or Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos. It’s the French luxury titan Bernard Arnault. France dominates the globe with luxury products. It is by far the worldwide leader. Half of the top French companies are Luxury Brands.

France is synonymous with luxury. The city of Paris is the top destination in the world and has its own syndrome named after it.

To understand France, you need to understand the luxury culture and the powerful labor movement. This interplay between the two forces gets you closer to understanding the nation’s true culture, not just the one showed to you on the media or from stereotypes. When we focus on the opposites it can unlock information. Let’s stay at the national level for more examples.

Opposites at the National Level

America likes to tell everyone it is the home of freedom. And it is. That is not a lie. Anyone who has ever tried opening up a business in many countries will tell you the US is one of the easiest countries to do it in.

There’s other types of freedom like carrying a gun anywhere you want or the right not to be prosecuted by the government for free speech. The law of free speech is only getting more robust. Americans have more concrete rights to speak free of government censorship than they have at any prior period in American history. However, you can get fired very easily in America for saying the wrong thing, the exact opposite. People are getting each fired all the time.

A strong majority of Americans self-censor. They’re afraid to exercise their rights for fear of getting fired from their job. That survey’s central takeaway is that, “Nearly two-thirds—62%—of Americans say the political climate these days prevents them from saying things they believe because others might find them offensive,” a number that “has risen several points since 2017...” More conservatives feel this way, according to the survey, than liberals, though both groups have enough opinions they’re uncomfortable expressing.

It’s easy to focus on conservatives. But it does cut across other domains. A Trans person just got fired from their government job for posting a video on Twitter of them holding a large gun.

Once you focus on opposites you can see it everywhere. Japan and Germany are some of the safest countries in the world during peacetime but were capable of committing the worst atrocities in World War 2. The Soviet Union’s newspaper was named Pravda (“Truth”) but was heavily censored by the state. Or take alcohol consumption.

When you think of drinking alcohol you may assume that Greece or Italy drink the highest amount of drinks since the weather is nice and the culture is leisurely. Actually, they don’t drink much alcohol.

The country with the highest alcoholic consumption is South Korea which also has the most serious white collar work culture in the world 

Israel markets itself as the home to the 3 biggest monotheistic religions (and it is), but they almost criminalized Christianity this year and have a serious religious right wing that sees the country as their home to the exclusion of others. Iran is a strict religious theocracy but home to the most sex-change surgeries in the world.

Opposites help you complete the picture.

Noticing Opposites

This is a good concept to have in your back pocket because it opens up so much of the invisible world:

1) The opposite of a good idea can also be a good idea. Sometimes, the other side of a good idea is not necessarily bad, it is a transformation into another essence. Being stuck in the middle could be the worse of both worlds.

2) Your Personal Life and Opposites. I’ve never had a real friend call me their friend. But I have had a transactional relationships with people who call me their friend.

2) A Short history of Dialectics. How did noticing the opposite start with Plato, move to Hegel, then to Marx and then snowball into Communism which ended up ruling half the world for almost 100 years?

The Opposite of a Good Idea can Also be a Good Idea

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