I have changed my tune. I used to say "Facts don't change people." It's one of those poorly developed slogans, like, "defund the police." The change I want to see takes at least a paragraph to start to develop the idea. Facts are of course important. I could simply add, "alone", as the second word. It takes a little more skill and practice to get to the "how" of presenting facts. When I try to have these conversations, I get plenty of counter examples, sometimes data (anecdotal or otherwise), and my favorite, "they will never change." That last one is conversation ending, but it doesn't have to be "the end."
This post will be updated as I find examples of people using their listening skills to build relationships and finding that the person they disagree with has something valuable to say. The stands on the issues might not change, although sometimes they do. The perceptions that the people have of each other change in most of these. They also find that even though their ideas remain more or less intact, they can work together toward a common goal.
In 2017, a journalist from the very liberal Seattle Oregon loaded up a bus of people like herself and went to a small town that had voted the opposite of her own. It went better than expected.
One I haven't examined in too much detail yetAmericans Reconnect: Talking Across the Political Divide | MPR News
Jonathan Rausch is gay and Jewish and has presented his work to groups like "Faith in Family". They listened
Cross Purposes and https://www.abebooks.com/9780805076332/Gay-Marriage-Why-Good-Gays-0805076336/plp
Stand Together Stories
No comments:
Post a Comment