There are three reasons good ideas are stopped: direct opposition, cultural opposition and structural opposition.
Direct opposition is when someone tells you that you can’t do it or actively works to undermine you and your idea. It might be a boss telling you that you can’t work on the project. It might be a spouse or parent telling you that the idea is not worth your time and energy. It might be a law or power holder informing you that it is not possible.
Often great ideas are killed well before direct opposition due to structural opposition.
Structural opposition is when the institutions surrounding you work against the launch of your idea. Common structural barriers include sexism, racism, ethnocentrism, urbanism and classism to name a few.
Structural opposition could manifest itself as mentors, investors or customers not taking your idea seriously because of your sex, race, ethnicity, place of residence or economic class. We also impose structural barriers on ourselves due to fear of society’s structures. As an example, we may avoid starting a project because no one else from that race/ethnicity/place builds products like that.
Cultural opposition adds yet another potential roadblock in the pursuit of an idea. Cultural opposition is any aspect of a culture that justifies the direct or structural opposition of creation. It’s the thing that encourages others to say “that’s not possible.” This cultural opposition could rear its head in the way people speak about creators (“Get a real job.”), how creators are depicted publicly or even in art or religion (Think the industrial man feeding the Rockwell family) or simply how welcomed, or unwelcome, a creator feels when sharing or pursuing an idea.
In Norway, and many parts of the Midwest, the idea of humbleness or janteloven, is a strong cultural trait. In short, people aren’t supposed to stand out, be different or brag about themselves. This cultural pressure to assimilate actively prevents the creation of ideas and justifies or encourages people from directly stopping your idea.
What’s fascinating about the relationship between the three types of opposition is that they feed upon one another. If a community has cultural and structural opposition to ideas, it is likely that there will soon be direct opposition. If a community has direct opposition and structural opposition, these viewpoints will work themselves into the culture and embed themselves as a long-term barrier to creation.
There are three reasons good ideas are realized: direct support, cultural support and structural support.
Fortunately, the reverse is also true. Direct support, structural support and cultural support for creation can push ideas forward.
In a community that enjoys cultural and structural support for creators, there will soon be someone encouraging them to pursue their idea. If a community has someone directly encouraging someone to pursue their idea and there is a supportive culture, the structural opposition will soon be overcome.
There are three reasons a society enjoys peace: direct peace, structural peace and cultural peace.
This triangle of creation mimics what we see in the larger world. As Johan Galtung described in Peace by Peaceful Means, violence and peace is based on the same triangular structure. The more structural and cultural violence, the more likely there will be direct conflict. The most structural and cultural peace, the more likely there will be peace in a community.
Your Place on the Triangle
Around this triangle every community member plays a role. Even if you are not in the explicit role of supporting people with ideas, you make up the culture, contribute to the structures and occasionally directly encourage or discourage those with ideas.
As a community we need to identify how we can work at all three points of the triangle to further creation. Explicitly encouraging people is something we all can do. Rejecting structures that limit our creation ability is a stand we all must take. Promoting a culture of openness and creation is an act we all must undergo.
A thriving community depends on an empowering combination of direct feedback, structural support and an uplifting culture. Every corner of the earth can work to develop a supportive environment for creation but few actually do.
