MOVING
BEYOND POLARIZATION: SOME FIRST STEPS
Have a New Conversation with Yourself
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Listen to your internal
dialogue.
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Do you sometimes think
about those who disagree with you "They're all alike."
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Do you sometimes use
demonizing short-hand to refer to activists on "the other side"?
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Are there slogans used by
your "side" that don't fully resonate with your experience or values?
Some that offend, confuse, or concern you?
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Have you met or seen anyone
on "the other side" who seems to be an exception to the image you may
hold of what "they" are like?
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Are your views more
complicated than people close to you may imagine?
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Do you have ideas or
feelings about political issues that you tend to silence?
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What are the advantages and
disadvantages of silencing your own complexity?
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What could be the
advantages and disadvantages of re-examining some of the assumptions
you make about people on "the other side"? To you? To your "side"? To
the community at large?
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What could be the
advantages and disadvantages of participating in a conversation in
which you could speak about what you really think and really hear
different views? To you? To your "side"? To the community at large?
Have a New Conversation with
an "Ally"
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Talk to someone who
generally shares your perspective, making agreements about
communication guidelines that will foster listening and constructive
speaking.
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Agree that your goal is
mutual understanding rather than agreement.
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Try learning about each
other's views leaving aside terms that label your point of view.
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Are differences in your
experiences or beliefs obscured by those labels? For example, if you
agree strongly about who should have won the 2004 national election,
are there important differences in the substance and sources of your
connections? If asked, "what is the heart of the matter for you?" are
your answers identical?
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If you discover some
differences, share how it feels to surface these differences? Disloyal?
Authentic? A little of both?
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What made this conversation
hard?
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What made it rewarding ?
What did each do (or not do) that contributed to its course?
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What did you learn about
fostering authentic and constructive communication about animal
research or other "hot" issues in the future?
Have a New Conversation with an "Opponent"
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Invite someone with a
different perspective on current political issues to participate in a
dialogue. Agree that your goal is mutual understanding rather than
agreement.
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Develop and agree to some
communication groundrules and guidelines before you start. (For
example, you both might agree to refrain from interrupting,
challenging, or attempting to persuade each other, speaking only for
your self, time limits, etc.)
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Avoid words that raise your
listener's defenses. Express your feelings and views so they become
sources of contact and learning rather than alienation and antagonism.
Open your mind to learning something new. Listen and seek to
understand.
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Begin by telling each other
about personal experiences connected with the development of your
views. Then speak about "the heart of the matter" for you.
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Notice what you do not
understand and ask each other questions that arise from a genuine wish
to understand more.
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Listen to each other's
responses respectfully and do not argue with any statement.
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Allow time to make final
statements about what you learned about the issue and about
constructive conversation.
Help Something New Happen in Your Community
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Consider initiating
dialogue in your community or in a particular civic or religious group.
Try to construct a planning team with people from both "sides."
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Bring people who have
diverse perspectives together to explore what you can do to resist
polarization and identify shared concerns and goals.
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If you know people with
"third party" skills such as facilitators, therapists, clergy,
educators, mediators, or negotiators, talk with them about how to
create an environment in which conversation on this subject is likely
to be constructive.
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Call the Public
Conversations Project at (617) 923-1216, visit PCP's main
resource page, or explore our resources
specifically designed for the Bridging US Political Divides series
of articles.
Ask the Media for Something New
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Urge representatives of the
media to give more time and attention to those who have complex views
about abortion. Challenge them to make constructive conversation more
interesting than shouting matches and extreme statements. Write letters
of appreciation when they do so.
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Express your concern when
members of the media foster misinformation, use demonizing stereotypes,
give polarizing accounts of events, ask inflammatory questions, etc.
© 2004 Public Conversations Project,
Watertown, MA
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