Progress without Polarization
Nisha Anand
CEO Dream.Org | Viral TED Speaker | Leading Progress in America Without Polarization | Celebrated Author
As a freshman in high school, I joined the debate team because a cute senior was the recruiting ambassador — a good strategy, for sure. But I’m glad I did, because I met Mr. Grodd, the debate coach.
A cheap win at the expense of others was not a real victory.
He had high expectations of each of us and believed in my ability to excel. He expected us not only to show the intellectual rigor necessary to be a good debater and argue every side of an issue, but to be civil in all our interactions. Other students would have fun ridiculing bad arguments during cross-examination, but Mr. Grodd admonished us if we showed anything other than respect. Debate is very competitive and we all wanted to win — but Mr. Grodd taught me that a cheap win at the expense of others was not a real victory.
Along with millions of other people, I joined threads last night. The first twenty-four hours have been an absolute love fest – everyone sharing their hope to make this new app the one place on social media without the toxicity and hate. Although that is an unlikely outcome, I am encouraged by the desire. According to a YouGov poll in partnership with Starts with Us, 87% of Americans are tired of the division and polarization. If two thirds of this country are ready to stop the hate, why don’t we?
Mr. Grodd would be happy to see the enthusiasm on Threads for a truly positive place for discourse. Now if we could extend that to politics, we may just turn this country around.?
Imperfect Uniter of the Week: Aditi Juneja
Aditi Juneja is the Executive Director for Democracy 2076, a new project to inspire faith in the future of our democracy and opportunities to take action to build the world’s first multi-racial democracy. By working long-term to change our political coalitions, political culture, and Constitution we can have a better democracy in 2076 and have an immediate impact by shifting the Overton window to provide the inspirational thought leadership to renew our democracy for the next generation. Most recently, she was Chief of Staff and VP of Operations at Movement Voter Project. Prior to that, she spent four years at Protect Democracy including leading staffing for the National Task Force on Election Crises in the 2020 election cycle. She began her career focused on the criminal legal system and reducing its harms.
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