Understanding Mass Movements - A Cause & New Opportunity

Understanding Mass Movements - A Cause & New Opportunity

https://www.restoredminds.com/5-Rules-For-Recovery

https://www.restoredminds.com/anxiety-assessments

This week we are going to tie up our series on mass movements.

In this third and final episode, I discuss the idea of how leaders of effective movements unite people under a new cause and new opportunity towards the future.

This is extremely important for a movement to gain momentum and cultivate a mass following.

Additionally, I discuss how the most effective mass movements will also set up the opportunity for people to self-identify with a movement, which enables them to fully embody a new ideology. 

Hope you enjoy the show,

Matt

TRANSCRIPT

Speaker 2 (00:07):

All right. Hello. And welcome to another episode of the restored mind show. My name is Matt Cottey. And on this episode, we're going to continue our series on mass movements. And we're going to talk about kind of that, that third part of a mass movement, right? So we talked about mass movement and mass persuasion, and really, I want to talk about what gives mass movements fuel, right? Um, and so what we need to understand, and this is kind of the first point is that people don't follow movements as much as they follow people, right. That are leading a movement. And I think it's just, it's a natural innate part of us to always, you know, look towards others, you know, to others for direction, right. I mean, we've done it, you know, our whole lives, most of us, whether it's our parents or teachers or bosses, and you know, when there's a situation that is conflicting for us, right.

Speaker 2 (01:00):

We look to others to help guide us when we don't feel like we know what we're supposed to do. And so this idea of creating a mass movement, one of the things that needs to happen is, like I said, there needs to be an attractive leader, you know, someone to follow, right. And in any good movement, we'll always have kind of a face of the movement. They might not even actually be the one doing a lot of the stuff, but at least they're the face to follow, right. In most companies, um, you know, that are really big, you know, and, and have a good following, right. They know who they're following. Right. You know, Steve jobs was a, you know, obviously very popular in Apple, right. Where he talks about putting a thousand songs in your, in your pocket. Right. I mean, that's one of the reasons his marketing was so effective was because he was the person leading that shift, that movement.

Speaker 2 (01:49):

Right. It wasn't, it wasn't necessarily the product that he was producing. Although it was good. Of course it was just, he was the leader. Right. And if we look at this, right, it's pretty interesting. Cause this, this actually plays in, um, elections and this being obviously an election coming up in the States, I wanted to go through, uh, some interesting stuff. So if we look back on several elections, the person who promised a change right, is usually the one who won the election. And this is what I mean about this idea of not only having a person to follow, but what also causes a movement to be successful is there has to be a cause like a futuristic goal or an opportunity that they're presenting right. To follow. Right. Because if you aren't going somewhere, then there's nowhere for the movement to go. Right. And so putting a futuristic cause out in front of the movement is what allows it and gives it space to gain traction.

Speaker 2 (02:48):

Right. Cause if you're promising like an improvement right now, people don't want that. People don't want, people want transformation, people want change. And so I wanted to go through some of the campaign slogans of presidential candidates. Right. So, uh, think it was back in 92, bill Clinton ran against George Bush and George Bush, George bushes slogan was a proud tradition where bill Clinton's was it's time to change America. Right. Then we have a McCain and Obama. Right. Um, I believe it back in 2008. Right. And it, um, I think that's when it was. And so, um, you have the country first, right. Which was McCain's and then you have Obama, which was change we need. Right. Which is interesting. Cause again, that promise of change is what attracts people. Right. Because if they don't like where they are, they don't want to keep staying where they don't want to improve the situation.

Speaker 2 (03:43):

They want something different. Right. And then obviously, um, you know, four years ago we have the most recent one with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and Hillary, um, Hillary SLO slogan was stronger together where Donald Trump's slogan was again, make America great again. Right. And that futuristic idea. Right. And if you look at the people that win the reason in many ways that they went, of course, I, you know, political beliefs aside is an, in many ways because they promise a change, right. They promise something in the future, a better future, right. Not an improved present. And that's, that's an important thing to realize in, in any kind of movement, right. Is a, a projected cause or a new opportunity in the future that's being presented. And, um, you know, cause again, people want to put their faith and hope in something they want like, you know, good to come in the future.

Speaker 2 (04:42):

Right. And they're actually, most people are actually willing to sacrifice the present for a better future. You know, when they really, um, when they really think about it. And, and when you have a cause and a new opportunity that you're presenting, that's actually what allows people to get behind that movement, that movement to gain traction, right? Because if you're promising something now, and they're not seeing results now, obviously that movement's gonna a lose speed. And then this last part here is a critical part to understand when it comes to, um, creating any kind of mass movement. And what people will do is they'll give an identity right. To, to really grab onto, and this is again, one of the big problems with, in my opinion, the political system in the United States is people adopt identity politics. Right. And we assume that if we identify with a certain political party that then all the beliefs should carry up.

Speaker 2 (05:44):

Right. And we, we agree with every belief with that political party and, and it just moves up the ladder. Right. And, and then ultimately is dictating the behavior of who you're going to vote for. So when someone gives you an identity, again, everything else follows. And we talked about that in the change series that we talked about, where the five levels of change and identity being the most powerful change that you can make in someone. And so like, if we look at, let's just look at this, right. Cause this is obviously I know it's a kind of a hot topic, controversial topic there. I said, but I think it's worth looking at right. Let let's look at the black lives matter movement, right. That's happening. Right. Because again, what we need to understand is black lives matter is a movement. It's not, it doesn't necessarily, um, it's not necessarily even about the idea of black lives matter because at the end of the day, most people, when you talk to them, as individuals would totally agree that black lives matter.

Speaker 2 (06:44):

Right. But that doesn't mean everyone agrees in some of the stuff that's happening in the country right now with the idea of writing and looting and some of the behaviors, you know, hurting, you know, violence, right. Not everyone promotes that. And not everyone that thinks that black lives matter promotes those behaviors. Right. And it's important that we understand that there's a separation between a belief that black lives matter and a movement that's taking place here. Right. And in what, what good mass movements will do is they'll fuse the two, they'll give you like a false dichotomy. Right. So a lot of people will say things like, well, you either believe in black lives matter or you're racist. Right. And it's, they don't even allow this middle ground to exist. It's either you are with us or you're against us. Right. And that us versus them mentality.

Speaker 2 (07:31):

Right. And that's what, uh, and then in that identity piece, right. You're either black lives matter or you're racist. Right. And I'm like, well, I don't want to be racist. So I'm this right. And, you know, instead of, instead of falling into these kind of, um, manipulation tactics, I mean, what, I'm, what I'm really trying to show in this series here is that this idea of like, look you can support black lives matter. Absolutely. No, of course I do. Right. But that doesn't, I mean that you have to stop thinking for yourself when it comes to different belief structures, you can actually be a, or a Democrat and you can actually have belief systems that are opposing what you're saying. I'd actually believes because you're, you can think for yourself it's okay. But when your identity is so few used in a, in a political movement or a, I mean, anything right.

Speaker 2 (08:27):

In anything, if you're, if you're over identified with something and you're blindly adopting the beliefs of that particular thing, whatever it is, right. That's when you start seeing the kind of behaviors that are really destructive that we're seeing in our country. And again, I know like I'm not really, I don't want to, you know, obviously get too political and stuff. Cause I, uh, you know, I just think it's in many ways, if you're really going to have these kinds of discussions with people, you need to have open minds. And one of the things that is, is the problem with how people are operating is when you identify with something, you have a closed mind to any kind of other idea. Right? And so when we talk about this idea of identity politics, which is really big right now, like I'm either a Democrat or I'm a Republican or I'm this right.

Speaker 2 (09:17):

I'm a conservative, or I'm a progressive right. You know, like these, these identities of I'm this, well, as soon as you adopt and someone gives you that identity, they just tell you what to believe. Right. And then you just adopt it because you assume that that's, you're this well that's my ms. Must be what I believe. And then you behave accordingly and that's, that's the dangerous part about, you know, the, the political realm and media and all of it. Right. It's like, you got to think for ourselves as, as individuals, right? Like yeah. You can support yes, no black lives matter and support police. Right. Cause law and order is good. Right. I mean like, like these, these, these ideas that only one thing can exist, it's just dangerous thinking. Right. It's, it's manipulation thinking. And one of the reasons that I wanted to put this series together is to kind of see, to like shine light on some of the tactics people use to manipulate others.

Speaker 2 (10:17):

Right. And it's, and it's okay. It's like, it's the most important thing that we have as individuals is to think for ourselves, right. To critically think, to use, to use your intelligence and to decide what it is you believe and stand up for that. And, and, and that is the greatest thing about the United States is that freedom to believe what you want right. To believe what you believe in, stand up for it. And I, I fully support, you know, I support the idea of protesting on something that you believe what I don't support is when it starts infringing the height on like other people in violences are opting for, you know, for, for on point people that had nothing to do with the thing that you're upset about. Or, you know, I mean, I did that, that kind of behavior is, is just, it doesn't make sense.

Speaker 2 (11:06):

Right. And, and it shouldn't, you know, it shouldn't be something that is supported. And, um, you know, again, I understand that, you know, how all these emotional charges taken, you know, start to overwhelm people and, and get, and get, um, you know, get people emotionally charged and that drives the behavior. But really seeing this stuff on a higher level is important for all of us. Right. Because it'll prevent you from getting roped in and making decisions out of an emotional charge. Right. And, and starting again, to go back to critically thinking about what, what it is you believe what it is you support. And, and, and again, realizing that you have that right. And that's a, that's a wonderful right to support whatever you support and, and realizing that that right is, is something that we all should embrace for all of us as individuals is like our ability to critically think and to, to openly, you know, have conversations with people that are different than us.

Speaker 2 (12:05):

Right. And, and that's, what's going to allow people to open their minds to different concepts as well. What's not going to open minds is when someone has a difference of opinion and we react to violently or aggressively, or we cancel them or shut them out because that's going to create more of a divide. You know, what what's actually going to allow change, you know, in many ways, and, and, and healing is to have open minds and to be able to think as individuals not being, not thinking how someone tells you how to think. Right. Um, and, and not just assuming that because you've identified with one party or the other, that you have to believe how that party tells you to believe. And the individual again, is always where I come back and put my trust, right. And restore mindset. You know, we, we believe in the idea of the individual, right.

Speaker 2 (12:55):

Of the healing of the individual mind in the ripple effect that that can have, you know, just cause when we're reacting out of anxiety and fear, we know that the ripple effect that that can take it obviously impacts your, you know, your family units and then your places of work and so on and so forth. But as individuals, if we can start to restore ourselves, the ripple effect that that can have on our families, on our friendships, on our places of business, um, our communities, and then so on and so forth, I mean, real healing is going to take place from an individual level. And, um, you know, again, this is going to conclude this particular series. Um, because again, I'm going to, you know, get back to talking more about mental health stuff, but I just felt it was an important series to go into because I wanted to talk about a lot of things that I think are happening on a higher level that I think most people don't see.

Speaker 2 (13:48):

And I wanted to try to shine some light on it in the hope that, you know, if, if you, um, start to see yourself, get emotionally charged about something and, and getting told what to believe or what to think, that you're able to step back and think for yourself. And because, uh, because he and I always will put my faith back in the individual and the individual's ability to critically think, um, and, and how important that is. And so, uh, you know, thank you for time. Uh, thank you for taking the time to, you know, tune in today, hang out. We really appreciate it. And again, always a like subscribe, um, and, and share, um, if you found this helpful, and we also have resources over on our [email protected] to help you with any kind of, um, mental health challenges, whether it be anxiety, depression, OCD, or any other kind of psychological, um, stress. And so thank you again, hope you guys have a wonderful weekend. Uh, next week, we're going to kick off a brand new series that I'm really excited about. So stay tuned and I will see you guys soon take care.