George Leef
For decades, things have been going the opposite way, as Americans
get angrier and angrier over political disagreements. We’ve reached the
point where many automatically denounce and try to silence people they
perceive as enemies even before they’ve heard what the individual has to
say. The good news is that some organizations are trying to remind us that
we’re better off with civil discourse rather than rancorous
name-calling. In today’s Martin Center article, Shannon Watkins writes about that, focusing especially on a group called Better Angels. Watkins writes, “Better Angels centers its work around conducting
‘Red/Blue’ workshops and facilitating debates on college campuses. The
first Better Angels workshop took place three weeks after the 2016
election. There were twenty participants: Ten who voted for Donald Trump
and ten who voted for Hillary Clinton. For all workshops, the leaders
first lay some ground rules before the group activities begin. The first
rule is that no one is there to change anyone’s mind, but
instead to learn how to listen. Second, they emphasize that no one is
being asked to compromise their values.” Learning how to listen — college students shouldn’t have to learn
that, but for years of their lives, many students have been hearing that
those who disagree with them are evil, stupid, or both and listening to
them is not merely a waste of time, but a betrayal of the right values.
Overcoming that mindset will be hard. Watkins also discusses the recent book How to Have Impossible Conversations
by Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay, which will help people get
America back on track as far as political disagreements are concerned...MORE
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment