How can Biteback intern Katherine Hannah solve the problem of a friend who just won't stop moaning? Reframe, by Eric Knight, provides some guidance...
In Reframe: How To Solve The World's Trickiest Problems, Eric Knight asks why we can’t resolve immigration tensions by building higher fences. A similar yet somewhat different predicament plagues me regularly: why can’t I turn into an incommunicable gnat every time a certain friend of mine calls to moan endlessly about her latest woes?
When this friend rings to tell me whatever the latest drama in her life is, I make excuses that I cannot talk for long, only to be bombarded with text messages TELLING me that I am going to meet her after work so that she can continue the barrage of complaints. This has become a predictable state of affairs recently and I know that it will end up with me slumped opposite her in a bar, elbow on table, head in hand and mouth drooped over the largest glass of wine possible, trying desperately to numb myself to the pain of listening to her droning voice. This friend does not have many other friends; you can probably guess why. Subsequently I always end up feeling racked with guilt if I make excuses not to meet with her; it’s a bit of a pickle.
The problem is that I have plunged head first into what Eric Knight calls ‘the magnifying glass trap’; I have failed to assess the bigger picture. Turning into an incommunicable gnat or ‘’losing’’ my phone will obviously not stop my friend moaning, and more importantly building higher fences will not solve immigration tensions.
So if you have you ever wondered why we can’t learn anything about climate change by discussing the weather or why we can’t eliminate terrorism by killing terrorists then you better grab yourself a copy of Reframe, now on special offer at only £6.
And one last thing: take a look at this video – it’s a fun one, I promise. Solving the world’s trickiest problems certainly is a monkey business.