“But we need polarization to achieve our political goals”
This is the Starts With Us newsletter. Sign up to get our newsletter (and more) delivered via email at www.startswith.us/join .
Is political passion at odds with depolarization?
Some people think polarization and political passion go hand in hand. The thinking can go, “If we see harm being done by our political opponents, don’t we need to be polarized to achieve our goals?” Some go even further and think, “We should use our anger — and even our hate — to help defeat the bad guys.”
What are these arguments missing??
News and views
Pro-life group calls for more civil disagreement
A pro-life group called for people to aim their anger less at people and more at ideas. No matter where you stand on this specific issue, hopefully this is a message you can get behind. Imagine if more activists took this approach — working hard toward their goals while seeing that it’s often easy for good people to disagree.?
Supreme Court ruling highlights an important point
Some people saw Colorado’s removal of Trump from the ballot as clearly correct — while portraying those who disagreed as biased and unreasonable. But the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision showed there were many strong arguments on the other side.?
领英推荐
It’s important to try to see the better arguments of those we disagree with — and not reach for overly pessimistic conclusions about their motivations. This is one way we can all help apply the brakes to toxic polarization.
Movement updates
Important win for Ukraine’s children The U.S. joined an international coalition to return Ukrainian children abducted by Russia after our sister organization, Builders Ukraine , arranged for child survivors of this abduction to share their stories at the UN, with the White House, and via CBS News. Learn more...
Women who inspire us. For International Women’s Day, we shared eight quotes from Movement Partners who are leading the way in helping us overcome differences. Learn more...
55 women join together to condemn Middle East extremism. Muslim, Jewish, and Christian women from 12 Middle Eastern countries wrote a letter condemning extremism and terrorism in the Middle East.?Hear their message...
Make It A Habit: Consider if your words may unintentionally divide
A piece from Fast Company about polarizing terms in the business world included “cancel culture,” “BIPOC,” “faith-based,” “equity,” and more.?
Sometimes we can be triggered by words simply because they remind us of “the bad guys.” We’ll often find that the polarization over language obscures a lot of common ground and nuanced, cross-cutting beliefs.?
There’s, of course, a limit to how much we should adjust our language for the sake of others. But it’s also true that if we want to be persuasive and avoid deepening divides, we must think about how our words affect others.