Also, I appreciate the point about school boards. People might not know, but school boards tend to be a big on-ramp to statewide politics. Paying attention to who's running and serving on a school board can be a direct and effective way to start helping with your area's political representation.
A couple of years ago I started hosting candidate forums for our school board candidates. Not a debate, just a forum, and it's moderated by someone who is an experienced moderator and doesn't have students in our district. Anyone can do this as a private citizen! As I explain every year, it's about increasing voter turnout and civic engagement. School boards are a unique cornerstone in American democracy, and increasing attention to them can help your local area.
The flip from "this is something I care about situationally (if the board is voting on an issue I care about or will impact my kid specifically)" to "this is the kind of civic body that I should care about because it's a key part of our shared life in this place" is a very simple but profound one.
How did you know that this post was exactly what I was yearning for today? I was just listening to an interview with a thoughtful philosopher I really like, and he started talking about the damage of social justice and cancel culture and it made me so sad -- not that he has opinions, but that someone I thought tended to think more deeply about life is also caught up in rhetoric and stories that he hears and doesn't question. And my dad, who lives the next town over, was telling me how Tucker Carlson-angry his neighbor (whom he's been friends with for years) has gotten, and it's depressing and worrying. Anyway. Reading this healed my torn heart. Thank you.
We're in such a delicate, tenuous moment aren't we? We are having conversations about justice and dignity that are far beyond the ones we were having even a few more years previously, but there is this heartbreaking calcification that's happening in reaction to it.
Yes. And it's such a good reminder that we can start conversations with thinking together about the kind of world you want, rather than grievances, whether real or imaginary.
I heard a good one from an organization that does difficult conversations in conflict areas around the world: Respond to someone with, "I completely disagree with you, but I'd like to know where you're coming from." That might work for me.
Also, I appreciate the point about school boards. People might not know, but school boards tend to be a big on-ramp to statewide politics. Paying attention to who's running and serving on a school board can be a direct and effective way to start helping with your area's political representation.
A couple of years ago I started hosting candidate forums for our school board candidates. Not a debate, just a forum, and it's moderated by someone who is an experienced moderator and doesn't have students in our district. Anyone can do this as a private citizen! As I explain every year, it's about increasing voter turnout and civic engagement. School boards are a unique cornerstone in American democracy, and increasing attention to them can help your local area.
The flip from "this is something I care about situationally (if the board is voting on an issue I care about or will impact my kid specifically)" to "this is the kind of civic body that I should care about because it's a key part of our shared life in this place" is a very simple but profound one.
It really is!
How did you know that this post was exactly what I was yearning for today? I was just listening to an interview with a thoughtful philosopher I really like, and he started talking about the damage of social justice and cancel culture and it made me so sad -- not that he has opinions, but that someone I thought tended to think more deeply about life is also caught up in rhetoric and stories that he hears and doesn't question. And my dad, who lives the next town over, was telling me how Tucker Carlson-angry his neighbor (whom he's been friends with for years) has gotten, and it's depressing and worrying. Anyway. Reading this healed my torn heart. Thank you.
We're in such a delicate, tenuous moment aren't we? We are having conversations about justice and dignity that are far beyond the ones we were having even a few more years previously, but there is this heartbreaking calcification that's happening in reaction to it.
Yes. And it's such a good reminder that we can start conversations with thinking together about the kind of world you want, rather than grievances, whether real or imaginary.
I heard a good one from an organization that does difficult conversations in conflict areas around the world: Respond to someone with, "I completely disagree with you, but I'd like to know where you're coming from." That might work for me.