[The World on the Page] How to Embrace the Era of Conflict

It is an era of conflict.

Politics, which seems to have completely ruined public dialogue, irritates us. Words that incite anger rather than reconciliation, hostility rather than harmony, make us uncomfortable. The current state, where people do not listen to others and only repeat their own words, plunges us into anxiety.

Social media is a contest arena for ‘public shouting.’ Users who post messages containing extreme and immoral content easily become influencers through likes and shares. Because producing hostility, fear, and anger generates money, social media platforms encourage posting that spreads conspiracies and provokes anger. Voices urging understanding or consideration for one another are buried without a trace in the meantime.

It is increasingly rare to see people with differing opinions openly talk heart-to-heart and part with a smile. Everywhere in the world, division, exclusion, conflict, and tension are swelling like balloons. Attacking and pushing through rather than carefully listening to and accepting different thoughts has become routine. Is this really okay? Is the era of barbarism, where society splits and scatters and people fight, coming? Everyone’s hearts are filled with worry and discomfort.

According to Ian Leslie, a British organizational culture expert, in his book “Disagree”, avoiding conflicts of opinion in modern society is impossible. The spread of opinion conflicts is a natural consequence of human history’s urbanization and globalization. More and more people flock to cities, trade with strangers, and communicate via smartphones. Accordingly, traditions weaken, hierarchies disappear, and customs collapse. It is common worldwide for everyone to speak equally, interrupt others more often, argue, and freely express their opinions. In a “noisy, disrespectful, and dazzlingly diverse world,” everyone opens their mouths “expecting their opinions to be listened to.” This is democracy.

Different opinions themselves are not a problem. Contrary to our misconception, rich conflicts of opinion are very productive. Children who frequently clash with their parents are happier, socially better adjusted, and more successful in school. Of course, this applies only when it is a calm exchange of opinions, not angry shouting matches. Frequent arguments can increase satisfaction in dating or marriage if they focus on practical solutions. Those who always honestly discuss trivial matters handle bigger problems well, and relationships that often experience open conflicts endure serious difficulties.

The same applies to companies. Only organizations that experience conflict succeed. In organizations where opinions are freely expressed, problems surface and naturally drive change. Only when debates lead to endless discord do they corrode the organization. “Arguing in a non-hostile atmosphere under the common goals of better understanding each other, making better decisions, and gaining new ideas” greatly advances organizations.

Fighting is okay. The hard part is fighting well. Humans have lived for a long time in small societies unfamiliar with debate, so we have not sufficiently evolved attitudes or skills for good discussion. We are better at disdaining and giving the cold shoulder to different opinions themselves than accepting conflicts and reaching productive debates. Instead of thinking about how to talk, we end up scolding others not to talk at all.

Humans “instinctively hate the possibility of being wrong.” We insist that what we believe is right rather than believing what is right. Because we are convinced we are always right, we take conflicts of opinion as attacks on ourselves. “I disagree with you” is understood as “I don’t like you.” We focus more on self-protection than opening our hearts to others’ perspectives.

So when conflicts arise, we either repeat hostile and meaningless arguments trying to make the other yield, or swallow our opinions inside as if it is no big deal and avoid conflict. However, the fight-or-flight response used to deal with physical threats is not the best way to resolve conflicts. It only drags us into the mud of opinion conflicts or leaves sparks of discord.

Leslie says, “Productive conflicts of opinion are a matter of well-trained habits or skills.” Like reading books, no one is born with them, so we must learn and master them diligently. In modern society where different opinions are commonplace, when conflicts arise, instead of smoothing them over, we should acknowledge the possibility of being wrong, be curious and attentive to the other’s position, and acquire good conversational skills that allow the other to change their opinion while maintaining face.

Organizations that achieve good results have cultures that productively handle internal conflicts. Southwest Airlines in the U.S., which has achieved 46 consecutive years of profitability, is a good example. The company has a tradition of sharing work conflicts openly and then joining forces to seek solutions rather than covering them up. This prevents work conflicts from spreading into relationship conflicts, where bad opinions are stubbornly held while despising and excluding colleagues. Encouraging everyone to question decisions and freely voice doubts is the starting point of good leadership. Leaders should show a tolerant attitude that respects differing opinions rather than trying to become parties to the debate. Conflicts of opinion are our finest way of reasoning.

If we cannot accept different opinions, our minds become bleached. If we cannot think differently, our spirit stagnates. Change stops, innovation halts, and adaptation fails. The result is destruction. The history of evolution has always shown that life forms that cannot accept conflict fail to adapt to the river of time and drown. Only flexible life forms that change themselves according to change win the clash with Earth and survive.

As humanity faces unprecedented challenges such as the failure of globalization, the normalization of pandemics, and the full-scale manifestation of climate disasters, we must learn to listen to voices urging us to take one path rather than another for the survival of our species. Accepting different opinions and repeatedly having good conversations play a crucial role in keeping shared entities like families, companies, and nations healthy. Building a culture that can enjoy productive debates amid the storm of differing opinions and mastering those skills is more urgent than ever. We hope the new government will set that example.

Jang Eun-su, Literary Critic

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.