END POLARIZATION
Increasing polarization in our society has led to division in our governments and crippled our ability to address a blizzard of dire domestic and global issues.
With a large percentage of our media and politicians intentionally adding to, and profiting from polarization, the problem can only get worse unless We the People first take far more responsibility to respectfully work with those of opposing views to find factual consensus and propose new solutions wherever possible. Our democracy depends on this.
Secondly we must quickly scale these discussions nationally (and globally) enough that our politicians take notice by voting on these proposals and most importantly know that our future votes reward only those that again truly “cross the aisle”.
Two difficult tasks ….. the first beginning with a look in the mirror.
A great deal of the problem, of course, is our ego….. we all want to be right in our stated opinion however based it might be on biased, false , or “missing” information (lying by omission is all too common in our media today). This often leads to an “all or nothing” mentality where only the extremes versions of a solution are angrily argued in overly simplistic sound bytes. Everything becomes black or white while reasonable, even partial, solutions may be found in the gray with informed, respectful discussion.
And these are only the tip of the iceberg…… income disparities, family history, geographical differences, different outlooks due to racial, gender and age differences …. are further examples of the roots of our differing viewpoints which we need to work out rather than allow our world to magnify. `
The good news is that tremendous work has been done in the field for years proving that under the right conditions we can indeed come together. One shining example is Stanford University’s ongoing national experiment “America in One Room: Democratic Reform” where Americans, picked randomly and of opposing views in many issues have met in person and online to talk to each other in a civil, evidence based way and learned to listen to each other often changing their views dramatically. Prior to deliberations all were given vetted, balanced information on each issue from both sides of the political spectrum.
Other efforts such as Tim Shriver’s UNITE have had similar results emphasizing conversations using a “Dignity Index” they have created which better insures conversations are mutually respectful.
Secondly, these new approaches must be more rapidly scaled to the broader society to have enough meaningful impact on reducing polarization in our society and governments to effectively address the many serious issues we face.
Above all, our economic markets must work for these efforts instead of against. Capitalism, and improving the common good, cannot be mutually exclusive. Unifying must become more profitable than division.
Doing good must be profitable for and backed by business and media as powerful counterweights to the myriad of opposing interests…….one suggestion is to apportion a small percentage of the immense advertising budgets of the world to promote all manner of forums to bring together people with opposing views to end polarization.
The bet is that a large percentage of the population, long since disgusted with polarization and the seemingly endless assault of traditional advertising, will gladly reward businesses and media recognized as promoting such events leading others to also jump on the bandwagon and spread the word more rapidly.
This “bet” is in fact supported by well researched data….. Forbes, for example, wrote in 2021 that “When given the choice between two similar brands or products, 71% of consumers will purchase from a purpose-driven company over the alternative. Nearly 80% of consumers are more likely to remember a company with a strong purpose and 4.5 times more likely to recommend it to friends and family.”
As citizens become more informed and involved they will also enjoy finding they again have more of a say in our country’s future as well as the world ….. something many of us had felt was lost long ago.
Similar to how as a society we generally accept the word of a jury of our peers in the legal system, as the process of having deliberations across the country and beyond become increasingly common and accepted as meaningful, our governments will have to listen and implement more and more of suggested solutions in a more collaborative way. Voting only for those that genuinely cross the aisle and having businesses and media profiting from promoting these efforts will only help in our capitals.
In the end these cultural changes whereby something that was generally acceptable becomes so unacceptable it becomes law is nothing new. The examples are endless and generally started with a pent up frustration which was catalyzed by an event, group or even an individual. Drunk driving is one great example which was basically accepted for decades in spite of horrific evidence to the contrary until Mothers Against Drunk Driving came along and changed everything.
The problem is these societal changes often took decades while today’s largely ignored issues such as global warming, horrific wars, mass shootings and the like need more rapid attention which these proposals will hopefully help solve.
www.endpolarization.com
tfour@endpolarization.com
508-386-6051