Daryl Davis and those before him, e.g., MLK, accomplish/ed great successes via their words of logic, reason, & undestanding. That can only occur when via rational and honest, no holds barred discussion. One cannot refute, persuade, or learn without engaging with others where they stand. Trying to drag others along without knowing why they think or believe what they do is futile.
As John Stuart Mill opined “He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion... Nor is it enough that he should hear the opinions of adversaries from his own teachers, presented as they state them, and accompanied by what they offer as refutations. He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them...he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.”
I helped fund a community blog started by a man who I had previously relentlessly attacked for his anti law enforcement agenda. I ended up spending time with him... going to coffee and to grab a beer... talking about our different life-experiences and perspectives.
At the time our family was recovering from the sudden suicide of my brother In Law and good friend. He had been a detective in the local PD. 2 years later his identical twin bother did the same as he never recovered from his depression over losing his brother and best friend. The cause of all this family destruction was the job stress experienced by my cop brother In Law.
I never did get this blog owner from his dislike and distrust of police, but he did start to develop a duel perspective that cops too could be victims of what is basically common human malevolence and darkness. I think he started to understand that cops were just people.
I helped him start his blog where the community could debate local, state and national issues that touched the community.
It grew.
Then the local liberals on his board of directors decided that no anonymous posting would be allowed, and that people could be blocked, canceled and banned for posting anything outside of a narrow "policy" that was basically a safe space for liberal-minded people.
I told him it was a mistake... his blog would fail because more people would bail... even the liberal readers and posters that said they welcomed the restrictive changes. I also explained that he was breaking the spirit and intent of a community blog as a place where people come together for a conversation. He told me that I was one of the primary reasons that they needed the new policy... that he would get a lot of complaints about my comments.
I cut off the annual donation I made to his non profit and wished him good luck.
Today the community is more divided than ever. Liberals only talk to liberals and conservatives only talk to other rational people.
And the guy's community blog no longer exists. I heard from someone that he is back to hating cops.
For half the country, the election of Trump was a Godsend. He slowed down the actions of the Uniparty deep state WEF neocons. And he has revealed the complete moral bankruptcy of the media, Hollywood, big tech and education. God willing, he will be back in 2024 to finish what he started.
When I first heard that Trump was running for President, I thought "finally an outsider will get elected to shake up the corruption and malaise of Washington". Boy was I disappointed! During the Trump years the rich just kept getting richer and crony capitalism thrived as ever before.
This is so great to read about, I've also been increasingly interested in how the dominant "hyperbole state" of people's modern thinking and expression can be replaced with real empathy and care for our fellow citizens. Whether we agree with them or not! I always have to remind myself that even if I'm the polar opposite side of a particular issue, if we were to spend time to talk about basic things even I'm willing to bet I have much more in common with my fellow humans than I do in opposition. In the heat of the moment, it can be hard to remember, but that's also why I refuse to engage in the more real-time social media platforms any longer. If there's to be a contentious discussion, it should be had in person, even over the phone is better, so that I can better empathize with a fellow human being.
It’s like an old Star Trek episode where the crew is behaving in crazy aggressive ways towards each other because of some hidden influence. Tara is the one crew member who isn’t being affected and is trying to get us out of our stupor
I have abandoned the traditional media as I have found these sort of resources so much more informative with varied viewpoints and intellectually stimulating. Enjoyed this post but also worry about the implications
Potter’s piece “Self-Help for Partisans” is an excellent read. In referring to the current Canadian political landscape, he writes:
“Instead, the steady march into the pit of vulgarity, meanness, stridency and unrelenting bad faith is being led by experienced members of parliament and the major party leaders.”
I totally agree. It is like watching a bunch of schoolyard bullies, all trying to superficially gain points. One has to look very hard to discern any true heart, “charity” as he puts it, and authenticity. What a sad state of affairs for this country.
And this of course relates closely to the situation in which ordinary citizens are seemingly unable and unwilling to hear other people’s points of view around the sociopolitical issues of our day. Not everyone has the interest, or indeed the ability, to engage with the kinds of arguments we are being exposed to on this platform. Far from it, in fact. Many of the people posting here are expressing the desire to break away from these polarizing tendencies and predicaments. It is challenging to do this, as most of us have been steeped in partisanship. Nevertheless, with sufficient will and desire, we might succeed in this endeavour. But how do whole populations move away from it when it’s become a knee-jerk response to judge, condemn, and vilify the “other”? It’s a complex issue, of course, with many different angles. But it occurs to me that teaching children critical thinking, empathy, and communication skills could go a long way. Of course it depends on the open-mindedness and non-partisanship of the people doing the teaching! Finally, people learn by example, and our mainstream political (and other) leaders, on the whole, are failing miserably in this regard.
Remember the Truth cannot be told. As in my case, at the final Trial when I was showing others the Truth of what was happening and the Judge wanted a GAG order (NDA) placed on me. He would sign it himself with out my Ok. As with the person doing the Lying and Thieving was given a Blanket while on the stand. For protection purposes.
There is a class who are wrong both on covid and on Ukraine. It's the damn liberals! Now some are wrong on war and good on covid, like many on the right. They don't like censorship of themselves but in times of war they don't mind suppressing speech. And there's many on the left who are anti war but pro lockdown and maybe even censorship. But liberals are for war and censorship.
This will be an interesting podcast. Reading through all the headlines made me exhausted thinking back to all the chaos we have been scrolling through. Daryl Davis' story is truly inspiring. The kkk members Daryl spoke to were transformed by his dialogue with them. It is a complex reality we live in. See you at the podcast.
Thanks. Hadn't heard of the Change Minds Initiative. Good to hear. Meanwhile, what exactly is a conspiracy theorist? Those who believe the January 6th events were an "armed insurrection" or those who believe that the WEF has an unusual and undeclared influence on international politics?
History didn't start in 2016. For those who wondered why Trump was elected, it was because he was the ham sandwich running against the well known representative of the System. It's a bit late today for people scrolling through their phones, trying to keep up with the headlines and then making sense of them. A precocious child, schooled from home could learn about history over a few years and know much more about today's realities than today's adult.
Our adults are generally amazingly ignorant outside of their well schooled multi decadal silos, and they take great pride in that. Don't tell them about the green grass growing outside of their home, because they can't see it from their viewing screen, and besides - isn't there an app or a degreed specialist for that, that they can refer to, if necessary? As humans, we have learned so much and yet so little, because we got a gold star for it, and are convinced that we are at the leading edge of knowledge.
I lived through the 60s and, lemme tell ya, it was no picnic. Riots (which make the BLM fandangos look tame by comparison), political assassinations, Manson, the departure of the middle class from cities, a silly little war in Vietnam, Nixon, Freedom Riders and MLK daring the honies to kill him (one or more did),,,today's crises du jour are nuthin'!
As we've gotten more into technology bringing the crisis closer to home and sometimes viewing the situation over and over again makes it more horrible to deal with. I'm sure you are correct. We are more aware now than in the past.
Yeah, but on the other hand i can't in my life remember being locked down for two years or two nuclear nations almost facing off... wait, the Cuban Missile Crisis...
Daryl Davis and those before him, e.g., MLK, accomplish/ed great successes via their words of logic, reason, & undestanding. That can only occur when via rational and honest, no holds barred discussion. One cannot refute, persuade, or learn without engaging with others where they stand. Trying to drag others along without knowing why they think or believe what they do is futile.
As John Stuart Mill opined “He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion... Nor is it enough that he should hear the opinions of adversaries from his own teachers, presented as they state them, and accompanied by what they offer as refutations. He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them...he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.”
Excellent post, RLee.
This is a beautiful essay.
I helped fund a community blog started by a man who I had previously relentlessly attacked for his anti law enforcement agenda. I ended up spending time with him... going to coffee and to grab a beer... talking about our different life-experiences and perspectives.
At the time our family was recovering from the sudden suicide of my brother In Law and good friend. He had been a detective in the local PD. 2 years later his identical twin bother did the same as he never recovered from his depression over losing his brother and best friend. The cause of all this family destruction was the job stress experienced by my cop brother In Law.
I never did get this blog owner from his dislike and distrust of police, but he did start to develop a duel perspective that cops too could be victims of what is basically common human malevolence and darkness. I think he started to understand that cops were just people.
I helped him start his blog where the community could debate local, state and national issues that touched the community.
It grew.
Then the local liberals on his board of directors decided that no anonymous posting would be allowed, and that people could be blocked, canceled and banned for posting anything outside of a narrow "policy" that was basically a safe space for liberal-minded people.
I told him it was a mistake... his blog would fail because more people would bail... even the liberal readers and posters that said they welcomed the restrictive changes. I also explained that he was breaking the spirit and intent of a community blog as a place where people come together for a conversation. He told me that I was one of the primary reasons that they needed the new policy... that he would get a lot of complaints about my comments.
I cut off the annual donation I made to his non profit and wished him good luck.
Today the community is more divided than ever. Liberals only talk to liberals and conservatives only talk to other rational people.
And the guy's community blog no longer exists. I heard from someone that he is back to hating cops.
For half the country, the election of Trump was a Godsend. He slowed down the actions of the Uniparty deep state WEF neocons. And he has revealed the complete moral bankruptcy of the media, Hollywood, big tech and education. God willing, he will be back in 2024 to finish what he started.
When I first heard that Trump was running for President, I thought "finally an outsider will get elected to shake up the corruption and malaise of Washington". Boy was I disappointed! During the Trump years the rich just kept getting richer and crony capitalism thrived as ever before.
This is so great to read about, I've also been increasingly interested in how the dominant "hyperbole state" of people's modern thinking and expression can be replaced with real empathy and care for our fellow citizens. Whether we agree with them or not! I always have to remind myself that even if I'm the polar opposite side of a particular issue, if we were to spend time to talk about basic things even I'm willing to bet I have much more in common with my fellow humans than I do in opposition. In the heat of the moment, it can be hard to remember, but that's also why I refuse to engage in the more real-time social media platforms any longer. If there's to be a contentious discussion, it should be had in person, even over the phone is better, so that I can better empathize with a fellow human being.
It’s like an old Star Trek episode where the crew is behaving in crazy aggressive ways towards each other because of some hidden influence. Tara is the one crew member who isn’t being affected and is trying to get us out of our stupor
I have abandoned the traditional media as I have found these sort of resources so much more informative with varied viewpoints and intellectually stimulating. Enjoyed this post but also worry about the implications
Potter’s piece “Self-Help for Partisans” is an excellent read. In referring to the current Canadian political landscape, he writes:
“Instead, the steady march into the pit of vulgarity, meanness, stridency and unrelenting bad faith is being led by experienced members of parliament and the major party leaders.”
I totally agree. It is like watching a bunch of schoolyard bullies, all trying to superficially gain points. One has to look very hard to discern any true heart, “charity” as he puts it, and authenticity. What a sad state of affairs for this country.
And this of course relates closely to the situation in which ordinary citizens are seemingly unable and unwilling to hear other people’s points of view around the sociopolitical issues of our day. Not everyone has the interest, or indeed the ability, to engage with the kinds of arguments we are being exposed to on this platform. Far from it, in fact. Many of the people posting here are expressing the desire to break away from these polarizing tendencies and predicaments. It is challenging to do this, as most of us have been steeped in partisanship. Nevertheless, with sufficient will and desire, we might succeed in this endeavour. But how do whole populations move away from it when it’s become a knee-jerk response to judge, condemn, and vilify the “other”? It’s a complex issue, of course, with many different angles. But it occurs to me that teaching children critical thinking, empathy, and communication skills could go a long way. Of course it depends on the open-mindedness and non-partisanship of the people doing the teaching! Finally, people learn by example, and our mainstream political (and other) leaders, on the whole, are failing miserably in this regard.
Bravo for Andrew Potter! I look forward more from/about him.
Look forward to the podcast, thanks Tara.
Remember the Truth cannot be told. As in my case, at the final Trial when I was showing others the Truth of what was happening and the Judge wanted a GAG order (NDA) placed on me. He would sign it himself with out my Ok. As with the person doing the Lying and Thieving was given a Blanket while on the stand. For protection purposes.
There is a class who are wrong both on covid and on Ukraine. It's the damn liberals! Now some are wrong on war and good on covid, like many on the right. They don't like censorship of themselves but in times of war they don't mind suppressing speech. And there's many on the left who are anti war but pro lockdown and maybe even censorship. But liberals are for war and censorship.
This will be an interesting podcast. Reading through all the headlines made me exhausted thinking back to all the chaos we have been scrolling through. Daryl Davis' story is truly inspiring. The kkk members Daryl spoke to were transformed by his dialogue with them. It is a complex reality we live in. See you at the podcast.
Thanks. Hadn't heard of the Change Minds Initiative. Good to hear. Meanwhile, what exactly is a conspiracy theorist? Those who believe the January 6th events were an "armed insurrection" or those who believe that the WEF has an unusual and undeclared influence on international politics?
History didn't start in 2016. For those who wondered why Trump was elected, it was because he was the ham sandwich running against the well known representative of the System. It's a bit late today for people scrolling through their phones, trying to keep up with the headlines and then making sense of them. A precocious child, schooled from home could learn about history over a few years and know much more about today's realities than today's adult.
Our adults are generally amazingly ignorant outside of their well schooled multi decadal silos, and they take great pride in that. Don't tell them about the green grass growing outside of their home, because they can't see it from their viewing screen, and besides - isn't there an app or a degreed specialist for that, that they can refer to, if necessary? As humans, we have learned so much and yet so little, because we got a gold star for it, and are convinced that we are at the leading edge of knowledge.
I lived through the 60s and, lemme tell ya, it was no picnic. Riots (which make the BLM fandangos look tame by comparison), political assassinations, Manson, the departure of the middle class from cities, a silly little war in Vietnam, Nixon, Freedom Riders and MLK daring the honies to kill him (one or more did),,,today's crises du jour are nuthin'!
I am sure you can go to any 6 year period and select out what you may believe was horrible.
As we've gotten more into technology bringing the crisis closer to home and sometimes viewing the situation over and over again makes it more horrible to deal with. I'm sure you are correct. We are more aware now than in the past.
Yeah, but on the other hand i can't in my life remember being locked down for two years or two nuclear nations almost facing off... wait, the Cuban Missile Crisis...