By their innocence and goodness, by their boundless capacity for forgiveness, and by the sheer power of their faith and hope, children redeem their parents, bringing out their best selves.
Cass SunsteinRead
Every human being has an assortment of diverse identities, and it greatly matters which one is triggered by social situations, which hold up different kinds of mirrors. The same is true for nations.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Our identities change based on social interactions and contexts, similar to how nations exhibit diverse characteristics.
This quote emphasizes the complexity of human identity, suggesting that individuals possess multiple identities that can be revealed in different social contexts. Just as individuals can reflect various aspects of themselves depending on their surroundings, nations too embody a range of identities influenced by historical, cultural, and social factors. The 'mirrors' mentioned serve as a metaphor for how these contexts bring forth different identities, shaping perceptions and interactions.
Themes
IdentitySocialDiversitySelfNations
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about cultural representation, one might say, 'As Cass Sunstein noted, every human being has an assortment of diverse identities.'
More from Cass Sunstein
All quotes →If a company has acted badly, people want to punish it - not in order to deter future misconduct, but simply because they're outraged. And the more outraged they are, the more punishment they want to inflict.
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If you look at a great city, one of its amazing features is that you're going to find all sorts of things that you might not specifically have chosen in advance. And they will change your day. Maybe your month. Maybe your whole life.
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It can be easy and tempting, especially during a presidential campaign, to listen only to opinions that mirror and fortify one's own. That's not ideal, because it eliminates learning and makes it impossible for people to understand what they dismiss as 'the other side.'
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Research shows that if people are talking and listening to like-minded others, they become more dogmatic, more unified, and more extreme. Personalized Facebook experiences are a breeding ground for misunderstanding and miscommunication across political lines and, ultimately, for extremism.
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If the air quality is terrible in Los Angeles, if a particular university is unusually expensive, if crime is on the rise in Dallas, or if a company has a lot of recalled toys, transparency can spur change. Whenever public or private institutions have to answer to the public, their performance is likely to improve.
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