Polarizing The Audience

You can’t please everyone. Or can you? In certain cases, maybe. Maybe you’ve got something everyone likes or you can make different things for everyone’s liking. But what happens when people either love you or hate you? Why is that even still a thing? What happened to “Live and Let Live”?

The truth is, when it comes to holding beliefs and having opinions, there will be people who agree and people who disagree with you, possibly strongly so. You could be persuasive and convincing, winning them over after all. But at least at the beginning, there is going to be some conflict.

Similarly, the mere act of having and displaying defined preferences could get a few strong reactions, positive and negative. It’s too this or too that. Not enough of this and not enough of that. Yet again, you could make it so it grows on them anyway. If that’s something you wish to bother with.

Or they just hate you for reasons outside of your message and how you portray it. Which may or may not be well-founded.

In any case, being someone who polarizes the audience shouldn’t immediately be taken as a bad sign. Yes, it sometimes means that there is something to be revised. A “hot take” may be no more than a “bad take”, unfounded and/or misguided. But a lot of the time, it simply means that you were not neutral, vague, or plain. And when that’s the case, and it shakes others up, it opens up a discussion that could lead to worthy revelations. Or you simply dared to take a stance and it is your right to.

If you were born to rock the boat, don’t be afraid to rock it. Just keep yourself in check so you’re not just rude and constantly making people fall over and have to swim to sturdier grounds.

CREDIT: AI-Generated Examples done on Leonardo.AI