Newsletter # 232 — April 26, 2024
Reader Suggested Links
Highlighting links suggested by our readers. Please send us links to things that you find useful.
- Constructively Addressing Complex Issues
Adversarial Collaboration: An EDGE Lecture by Daniel Kahneman — A lecture by the late Daniel Kahneman describing adversarial collaboration – what it is and how it works. - Constructive Communication
Checklist for Listeners — From Ohio State's Divided Community Project, a checklist for campus leadership to help them listen to students, faculty, and staff effectively after a divisive event.
Colleague Activities
Highlighting things that our conflict and peacebuilding colleagues are doing that contribute to efforts to address the hyper-polarization problem.
- Intersectional Left
Campus Deplatforming is on the Rise. Is that bad? – BCB #95 — A disturbing trend in the one place in society that is supposed to teach people how to think critically and have an open mind to new ideas. - Constructive Communication
Three Organizations Teaching Students to Navigate Political Difference – BCB #94 — Profiles of 3 organizations (Essential Partners, Braver Angels, and the American Exchange Project) with noteworthy approaches to teaching students (and everyone else, really) do better deal with political conflict: - Constructive Communication
Being Valued, Seen, and Heard in a Polarized Society — Eileen Borris distinguishes between people's "personal stories" and "larger stories" -- who we are as part of a global human family, connected by transcendent values and spiritual natures. - Saving Democracy
Enduring Hope: Democratic Resilience in Asia — The March 2024 (Vol 19. No. 1) Issue of Global Asia from the East Asia Foundation - Trust / Trust Earning
Rebuild Trust in Politics: Common Sense Paper # 48 — Those who choose to run for office should evidence some knowledge and care for the principles of sound government. To build trust, they must exhibit both good intent and competence. - Constructive Communication
Are we really asd divided as we think we are? — According to Beyond Conflict's March 29, 2024 Newsletter, the answer is no.
Beyond Intractability in Context
From around the web, more insight into the nature of our conflict problems, limits of business-as-usual thinking, and things people are doing to try to make things better.
- Saving Democracy
On Public Service — A strong defense of the ideal of public service and a sharp critique of Donald Trump's disdain for such service. - Authoritarianism
The Taliban Have Restored Barbarism to Afghanistan — An update on what life in Afghanistan is like, now that the Taliban have returned and US efforts to transform the country have failed (and a reminder of how bad things can get). - Effective Problem-Solving
The Quiet Magic of Middle Managers — A must-read article about the "middle managers" whose conflict-handling expertise enables our society to function. - US Election
How to survive another Trump-Biden election — From Amanda Ripley, thoughts about how to navigate the coming year of political turmoil. - Superpower Conflict
‘Everything, Everywhere, All At Once’: U.S. Officials Warn of Increased Cyberthreats — The possibility of serious cyber attacks launched against the United States' critical information systems is not a hypothetical possibility. It's an ongoing reality. - Israel / Hamas War
The False Economic Promise of Populism: A Conversation with Rachel Kleinfeld — An interview with one of the more prominent voices in the pro-democracy movement, Rachel Kleinfeld, talking about the origins of the populist rebellion against democratic institutions. - Education
What Would Success Look Like in American Education? — You can't solve problems if you don't have a shared vision of what a solution would look like. This essay tries to imagine a goal for our educational system that we could all work toward. - Superpower Conflict
Did One Guy Just Stop a Huge Cyberattack? — A story about one unsung hero -- the kind of person that society depends upon in ways that are seldom recognized. - Artificial Intelligence
The AI deepfake apocalypse is here. These are the ideas for fighting it. — A story about how we might be able to protect ourselves from a world in which AI makes it increasingly hard to distinguish reality from illusion. - Social Complexity
A history (and defense) of left vs right — For a time when the battle between the Left and the Right is central to most everything, a refresher course on the origins and meanings of the terms. - Psychological Complexity
The power of unconscious thought — From George Lakoff and a progressive perspective, critically important insights into subconscious aspects of political communication. - Israel / Hamas War
Western Democracy’s Future Depends on Israel’s Victory — More thoughts on the relationship between Israel's war with Hamas, Iran, and its proxies and larger efforts to defend democracy. - Constructive Communication
Bring Back The Culture of Debate! — For a time when everyone seems to shy away from criticism, an argument for the reinvigoration and celebration of debate. - Violence
The Government Isn’t Ready for the Violence Trump Might Unleash — An argument for engaging in worse case (or near worse case) contingency planning as the US heads into uncharted political territory.
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