I’m not on Twitter, so missed this. Terrific insights from you and others. Thanks to all!
For anyone interested — and especially anyone suffering strained familial relationships and anxious about family gatherings as we enter the holiday season — I would like to flag Braver Angels (www.braverangels.org).
Braver Angels is a national grassroots movement dedicated to depolarizing our country. The organization teaches skills for having respectful conversations that help participants understand one another better, see each other's humanity, and find common ground where it exists. We do this through free workshops and other free offerings (e.g. book and movie discussions, structured debates, one-on-one conversations) that provide opportunities to practice the aforementioned skills.
Braver Angels does not seek to change anyone’s viewpoints or values, but rather to change how we treat people with whom we disagree, so we can establish a foundation for working together to better understand the nature and causes of our problems and identify consensus solutions.
A conservative myself, I feel like I’m taking a risk every time I speak up in the broader culture. In Braver Angels, however, the conversations I’ve had with people who have different political perspectives have invariably been enjoyable and enriching. While I might not have changed my mind in any given instance, the conversations have opened my aperture and helped to find common ground that can serve to identify potentially synergistic solutions (as opposed to compromise ones, where one or both have to give something up, or no solutions at all).
The skills I’ve gained and refined, along with the overall experience, have also helped me manage political differences within my family and resulted in new friends with very different political perspectives. As such, I know involvement in Braver Angels can make a difference at a personal level and, one by one, I believe it can play a major role in depolarizing our country and bridging the political divide. For anyone interested, try a Red-Blue Workshop, Skills for Bridging the Divide Workshop, or a one-on-one conversation. They’re free and powerful experiences.
Wonderful! So glad to hear it. Welcome aboard.
I’m not on Twitter, so missed this. Terrific insights from you and others. Thanks to all!
For anyone interested — and especially anyone suffering strained familial relationships and anxious about family gatherings as we enter the holiday season — I would like to flag Braver Angels (www.braverangels.org).
Braver Angels is a national grassroots movement dedicated to depolarizing our country. The organization teaches skills for having respectful conversations that help participants understand one another better, see each other's humanity, and find common ground where it exists. We do this through free workshops and other free offerings (e.g. book and movie discussions, structured debates, one-on-one conversations) that provide opportunities to practice the aforementioned skills.
Braver Angels does not seek to change anyone’s viewpoints or values, but rather to change how we treat people with whom we disagree, so we can establish a foundation for working together to better understand the nature and causes of our problems and identify consensus solutions.
A conservative myself, I feel like I’m taking a risk every time I speak up in the broader culture. In Braver Angels, however, the conversations I’ve had with people who have different political perspectives have invariably been enjoyable and enriching. While I might not have changed my mind in any given instance, the conversations have opened my aperture and helped to find common ground that can serve to identify potentially synergistic solutions (as opposed to compromise ones, where one or both have to give something up, or no solutions at all).
The skills I’ve gained and refined, along with the overall experience, have also helped me manage political differences within my family and resulted in new friends with very different political perspectives. As such, I know involvement in Braver Angels can make a difference at a personal level and, one by one, I believe it can play a major role in depolarizing our country and bridging the political divide. For anyone interested, try a Red-Blue Workshop, Skills for Bridging the Divide Workshop, or a one-on-one conversation. They’re free and powerful experiences.
Rick Hotchner
Braver Angels Ambassador
rhotchner@braverangels.org