Newsletter #241 — June 2, 2024
Reader Suggested Links
Highlighting links suggested by our readers. Please send us links to things that you find useful.
- Saving Democracy
How To Put a Country Back Together — Perceptive thoughts, grounded in real-world situations, about how to make a diverse, pluralistic society really work. - Israel / Hamas War
What’s happening to all the aid sent to Gaza? — An eye-opening report that illuminates one of the ways in which Hamas is interfering with the delivery of badly needed aid to the people of Gaza (and also cultivating global sympathy). - Interstate War
Putin wants Ukraine ceasefire on current frontlines, say sources — A hopeful report suggesting that a "ripe" moment for negotiating an end of the war in Ukraine may be approaching. - Israel / Hamas War
A Chill Has Fallen Over Jews in Publishing — A not so hopeful story about the ways in which Jewish voices are being suppressed by the publishing industry. - Constructive Communication
Invisible memorials and the presence of absence — An interesting report on an unusual way of memorializing terrible, politically charged events. - Israel / Hamas War
Decades of Denial: How Islamists Won the War Against Western Values — A long-term look at the conflict between Islamic and Western values and the continuing struggle for dominance -- a big part of the larger context of the war between Israel and Hamas. - Israel / Hamas War
The 500 — From Natan Sharansky, thoughts about the suppression of Jewish voices and the hopeful news that Columbia students are overcoming that suppression.
Colleague Activities
Highlighting things that our conflict and peacebuilding colleagues are doing that contribute to efforts to address the hyper-polarization problem.
- Saving Democracy
- OECD's Anti-corruption and Integrity Hub — The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's overarching objectives of its anti-corruption and integrity (ACI) work is to support trustworthy institutions and open, efficient and inclusive markets.
- Corruption
Transparency International — Transparency International is a global movement working in over 100 countries to end the injustice of corruption. It focuses on issues with the greatest impact on people’s lives and holding the powerful to account for the common good. - De-Escalation Strategies
Calling People Forward Instead of Out: Ten Essential Steps — Excerpted from a book, "How We Ended Racism," this article explains that calling out leads to a cancel culture which is ineffective and further divides, while calling in is much more effective at addressing racism. - Saving Democracy
Narendra Modi’s War on Civil Society on the Cusp — As India undergoes an existential election for its democracy and future, the fate of its civil society hangs in balance. Thousands of NGOs have already wilted in the populist heat, and worse is expected if Modi wins again. - Israel / Hamas War
What is the Antisemitism Awareness Act? — A Fulcrum article examining the key elements of the Antisemitism Awareness Act, its intentions, the potential impacts it may have on curbing this age-old prejudice and concerns with its implementation. - US Election
The Shapeshifting Threat of Election Interference — The Voting Rights Lab most recent report examines how election interference legislation has changed over the past three years and how this is likely to impact the 2024 election. - Artificial Intelligence
Nine Major Proposals for Government Regulating Artificial Intelligence Favored by Very Large Bipartisan Majorities of Voters — Public opinion polls show the public is strongly in favor of strong regulation of artificial intelligence. - Communication Complexity
Where the public stands on social media and smartphones in the United States and Europe (May 2024) — A More in Common survey on the impact of smartphones and social media on the lives of people in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany showed both pluses and minuses. - Saving Democracy
Democratic Erosion Consortium. — The Consortium is a collaboration between academics, students, policymakers, and practitioners that aims to help illuminate and combat threats to democracy both in the US and abroad. - Communication Complexity
For Campus Protests (and Other Polarizing Issues), Do We Often See What We Expect To Find? — It is important to recognize the ease with which we can disagree, as well as to engage with others with empathy and compassion, even though such a request is often difficult when it comes to contentious and emotional topics. - Civic Education
Democracy 101 — A program from Citizen Connect seeking to revitalize civic education as a key to raising more knowledgeable citizens and empowering us all. - Escalation & Violence Limiting Projects
‘Christian Nationalism,’ ‘Never-Trumpers’ and Other Biased Terms This Election Season — Catchy terms are often polarizing and exaggerated, making them common in popular tabloids and on social media. This makes it easier for media consumers to get trapped in filter bubbles. - Developing a Unifying Vision
Voices for the Future — Interviews with leading figures in the fields of climate change, democracy, economics, healthcare, education, community, trauma healing, activism, diversity, and much, much more.
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.
- US Election
Democrats Should Embrace the “New Centrism" — At a time when politics is dominated by the extremes of the right and the left, an argument that Democrats ought to move toward the center -- home of the all-important swing voter. - Developing a Unifying Vision
A New Centrism Is Rising in Washington — A persuasive argument that the conventional wisdom is wrong. Rather than being divided and dysfunctional, the US government has quietly and successfully been able to address a wide range of issues. - Israel / Hamas War
What Hamas Called Its Female Captives, and Why It Matters — A detailed look at the complexities of translating Hamas' language regarding its female captives and the alarming meanings of the words they use. - Israel / Hamas War
No Gaza aid delivered through US pier has been distributed to Palestinians, Pentagon says — An update on the delivery of aid to Gaza using the new pier constructed by the US military (a pier that has since been badly damaged by storms). - Israel / Hamas War
The Ugly Lessons of October 7 — An analysis of the terrible precedents being set by Hamas' October 7 attack, Israel's response, and the global reaction. - US Election
Why Biden lost — It is always a good idea to anticipate things that could go wrong before they actually do (and in time to change plans). This article applies this principle to the upcoming election. - Israel / Hamas War
The Untold Stories of Gazans — This series of video interviews provides the rare look around Hamas' iron grip into what the people of Gaza are actually thinking. - Interstate War
What Do I Owe the Dead of My Generation’s Mismanaged Wars? — For Memorial Day, thoughts about how to remember those lost in ill-conceived and mismanaged conflicts and how to remember the wars in which they heroically fought. - Artificial Intelligence
See How Easily A.I. Chatbots Can Be Taught to Spew Disinformation — In an information environment characterized by enormous quantities of information that is unreliable and often deliberately distorted, thoughts about how AI can be used to make the problem even worse. - Family / Gender / LBGTQ+
Less Marriage, Less Sex, Less Agreement — Thoughtful thoughts on the changing way in which people are thinking about romantic relationships and the political implications of increasing tensions between men and women. - Social Complexity
The Invisible Hand Strikes Back — The "invisible hand" creates opportunities for anyone who can figure out better ways of dealing with any problem (including conflict problems). This is how complex social systems learn. - Positive Perspectives
Never Bet Against Democracy in the Long Run — An important and timely reminder that, despite its many problems, democracy has enormous advantages over other systems of social organization. - Israel / Hamas War
Who’s in More Trouble: Israel or Iran? — Despite its aggressive and apparently successful efforts to spread its influence around the Middle East, Iran's regime faces challenges that are at least as serious as those being faced by Israel. - Developing a Unifying Vision
Liberalism As a Way of Life — An interview with the author of an important new book defending liberal democracy from its many detractors. - Freedom of Speech
Canada’s Assault on Free Speech — Canada is at the forefront of progressive efforts to promote "social justice" by controlling speech. This alarming article tells us just how far they've gone. - Authoritarianism
Xi Jinping’s Recipe for Total Control: An Army of Eyes and Ears — A report on what 21st-century authoritarianism looks like in today's China. - Suppressing Opponents
One of the Deadliest Jobs in Mexico: Running for Office — A window into violent political intimidation -- one of the scariest failure modes for democratic systems and efforts to curtail organized crime and governmental corruption. - Israel / Hamas War
The Inside Story of How Palestinians Took Over the World — This article provides an unusual window into the quite sophisticated, long-term strategic thinking of Palestinians — a threat that is very hard for Westerners, with their short attention spans, to understand. - Artificial Intelligence
Maxims for the AI Age by Reid Hoffman — Perceptive principles for guiding emerging AI technologies in ways that better protect us, while also allowing us to take advantage of the technology's potential. - Family / Gender / LBGTQ+
The Gender Gap Is Now a Gender Gulf — As progressives focus on dismantling patriarchal power structures and protecting society from toxic masculinity, not so surprising news that the political divide between men and women is a chasm. - Artificial Intelligence
Google’s weird AI answers hint at a fundamental problem — Has Google's embarrassing Artificial Intelligence-based advice revealed that the technology is not really so intelligent? - Violence
1 in 5 Americans think violence may solve U.S. divisions, poll finds — Sobering news about the increasing number of Americans who are starting to embrace violence as an alternative to our dysfunctional political system. - Race / Anti-Racism
How Modern "Anti-Racists" Reject the Philosophy of MLK - with Coleman Hughes — An article contrasting contemporary efforts to reckon with the United States' continuing history of racism and the approach taken by Martin Luther King. - Social Complexity
The Real "Deep State" — A revealing essay exploring the deep and largely hidden system through which private interests are able to influence public policy. - Constructively Addressing Complex Issues
Congress Got More Done When the Greatest Generation Ran It — An exploration of the way in which the "greatest" (World War II) generation approached political issues and an argument that they did a better job of making democracy work. - Psychological Complexity
The Psychology Of Being In A Minority — From a thought-provoking conservative perspective, thoughts on what it's like to be a member of a minority group and the differing approaches taken by Obama and Biden. - Race / Anti-Racism
Embrace Pluralism over Racialism — Thoughts on the complex relationship between race-based views of social equity, antisemitism, diversity, tolerance, and pluralism. - Interstate War
Do We Still Understand How Wars Are Won? — Reflections on the fact that, since World War II, the United States is not been in war that had absolutely, positively had to win -- a war like the one that Ukrainians are now fighting.
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