Residing in parallel universes: For contentious issues, do we often see what we expect to find?
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Our divergent views of recent protests (and other issues)
We saw a social media post about people’s divergent views on the recent college protests. It described people’s views as falling into one of two groups:
Group 1: MOST protesters are using threatening, violent rhetoric. Viewer cannot believe everyone’s not outraged.
Group 2: HARDLY ANY protesters are using this rhetoric. Viewer cannot believe people want the police.
For contentious issues, it’s easy to think our political adversaries are ignorant, deluded, lacking compassion — or all of these things. We may see our view of things as not just right, but as self-evident “common sense.” It can be hard to see that it’s easy for rational people to arrive at very different stances.?
News and views
Commencement speech provokes anger
You may have heard about football player Harrison Butker and his controversial commencement speech. For our Instagram, our social media manager did something a little different, talking openly about her own angry reaction and inviting people to join the conversation.
She wrote: “If you relate to what Butker says, are you able to understand what bothered people about it? Can you see how people felt his phrasing was insulting and divisive? If you’re like me and upset with this, what are your thoughts on how we express our anger and frustration in productive ways? Do you think it’s possible that our instinct to vent our anger results in making the anger the focal point, instead of discussing issues and ideas?”
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Movement updates
Momentum builds in Tennessee. The National Governors Association held an event in Nashville centered on “building dialogue skills and fostering positive contact.” Two members of the Tennessee 11 , Arriell Gipson Martin and Adam Luke, went and shared the proposals they developed through our Citizen Solutions process with attendees, including Governor Bill Lee. They’re now working to set up a meeting with the Governor to discuss? how lawmakers can cultivate a problem-solving mindset for the benefit of all Tennesseans.
Dissolving abortion battle lines. The Christian Science Monitor editorial board highlighted our Citizen Solutions work in Wisconsin: “Americans are learning that listening leads to compassion even when they disagree.” Read more. ?????
Seeing each other’s humanity across the divide. The City Cast Madison podcast talked to two members of the “Wisconsin 14,” who have opposing views on abortion, about navigating such a contentious issue in empathetic ways. Listen to podcast.
Make It A Habit: Be our eyes and ears?
Do you ever see a news article, video clip, or audio clip and think, “Starts With Us should talk about this!” We’d love it if you’d make it a habit to send us any media you see related to this work, whether that’s events emblematic of our toxic divides or behavior aimed at bringing down the temperature. It can be a moment on your favorite TV show, a TikTok rant your friend made, or a clip from a nightly news show.?
We can’t see everything in this huge world, so we appreciate it when our community draws our attention to things we may have missed.?
When you have something you want to share, send us a message . Thank you for your help!
This has been the Builders newsletter from Starts With Us.
Principal
5 个月While many avoid reading positions that differ from there's, too often we succumb to the echo chambers social media algorithms create. I do my best to take in "fair and balanced" news and positions that differ from my own but that seems increasingly difficult to do. Where is Walter Cronkite when we need him?