Solving Problems v. Solving Feelings

There’s a big difference between actually solving a problem and solving the way we feel about a problem.

I just released a video on YouTube (link in the bio) exploring the myths around recycling. I spent a few weeks researching and writing it and it became clear that a lot of our environmental services weren’t designed to effectively eliminate waste or pollution, as much as they were designed to make people feel better about the problem.

The same pattern plays out in a lot of pushes for racial justice. It’s a lot easier to make the symbolic change (rename the mascot, hire some cast members of color) than it is to make structural changes (prison abolition, reparations, etc.) I do think public sentiment and symbols are important, but their impact is also different than the impact made by structural change. (That’s a whole nother video sometime)

I don’t think this only applies to society and culture. At a personal level there are a ton of other examples of how solving a problem can be different than solving how we feel about a problem. It’s a distinction worth paying more attention to.