The nuanced view — learn to understand “the other side”
I recently listened to the “You Are Not So Smart” podcast (YANNS) episode 256 on “The Persuaders” — a new book on how minds change and how polarized public debate has become. It made me think and ultimately write this article.
Anand Giridharadas, author of “The Persuaders”, and David McRaney, host of the YANSS podcast, discussed aspects of disagreement. I am paraphrasing a bit, but they pointed out that it is better to disagree angrily than silently disagree. A heated discussion shows that you are still interested in the other person’s point of view. In contrast, ending the discussion without agreeing or at least an agreement on where to disagree leads to polarization and the end of communication between the parties. The two gentlemen also pointed out that distressed couples who have disengaged from the discussion have a much higher risk of divorce than couples still fighting.
A scary analysis of the Russian meddling in the American election through social media space revealed that the Russian troll factories were (and still are) mainly trying to polarize public opinion to destabilize American and other Western democracies. We can’t let that happen, right?
Trenches are dug when things become black and white. Hence, more people need to see the nuances between the extremes of a topic. The exercises…
