Society isn’t an abstract concept. On the contrary, society is way more concrete than we think. Every choice we make, even the one we believe to be totally irrelevant for the rest of the world, has an impact. The way we speak to our friends, our family, to ourselves.

Change the rules

Society dictates the rules we follow and we can bend those rules, but we cannot change them radically, not in the fraction of time which is our life. That doesn’t mean our choices are useless, irrelevant, or destined to fail.

However, we don’t have to get frustrated if we see society struggling to follow what we think it’s correct, understanding what is right. From a fractal perspective, society can probably be described as a bigger, more complex version of ourselves. In the middle, there are smaller societies, as our churches, our clubs (any clubs, not just the one with kayaks or golf sticks), even our families. Our believes, our standards, comes in and we can take them or reject them.

The main difference between us and society is then the time we take to reach innovation.

I recently wrote a story about a new law in Italy that intends to get a harder punishment for those who discriminate against others with homophobic intentions. I didn’t want to give a lesson but create a story offering a different perspective on the matter.

Imagine if women had a beard and men dressed as women, with their legs properly shaved. Imagine now the politicians defending men dressing in a skirt, as “we always did”.

If we do something for a long time, it doesn’t automatically mean it’s the right thing to do. Keep in mind that, as absurd it would seem to you, I didn’t invent anything.

Most of the speeches you’ll read in the story, Skirt or beard, are actual speeches from real politicians.