What you gained from AmeriCorps has always been a Peace Corp goal: "To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans."
"Volunteers immerse themselves in local cultures and share their experiences when they return home with family, friends, and the public. This helps promote cultural understanding, volunteerism, and public service."
Truly wonderful piece. The drive behind these cuts isn't about waste or inefficiency; it's about cutting initiatives that aim to decrease cynicism and create citizens that are more empathetic and knowledgeable about worlds outside of their own. Because an insulated, cynical, fearful and untrusting populace is easier to control.
I thought about that too. I’m not sure whether to give them that much credit, but it might be the case. They’re certainly intentionally hollowing out the intellectual life of the nation.
It was a summit organized by the Hewlett Foundation and the Institute for Humane Studies. It brought together academics, philanthropists, and research orgs like Pew to think about models for building trust and reducing polarization. It was a really wonderful event. It was an intentionally ideologically diverse group, which was great. I'll write something up for next week.
This is an excellent piece — well written, important and persuasive. I would love information on the summit…”intentionally ideologically diverse” group sounds inspiring. Our skill and facilitation method of Real Dialogue belong in an environment like that. We create a dialogue in which people speak subjectively, as human beings, about their differences, fears and values. They are coached and facilitated to step back from “making a case” and instead are meant to lean into “making sense” of each others’ experiences and points of view. It’s like what the Dalai Lama said about increasing world peace by having more picnics: people getting to know each others’ perspectives not to invalidate them, but to see alternatives. During polarized contentious debates, and often during all political conversations, only one side is developed and heard. Everything is a debate in which one person/group is promoting and protecting itself. Outcomes are predictable and insulting or humiliating to one side or the other. I know we can do better because I have now facilitated and taught hundreds of hours, probably thousands, of this humanized kind of conflict. I have learned so many new things listening to BOTH sides and feeling relieved that everything people have said is valuable and human-sized when it is understood as subjective. We are the Center for Real Dialogue at www.realdialogue.org and we are looking to connect with partnering organizations in business and higher education. Thanks for an excellent essay.
So many beautiful stories and well-made points in this essay. I did a year of service in Puerto Rico between college and grad school and it shaped my life in so many ways.
What you gained from AmeriCorps has always been a Peace Corp goal: "To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans."
"Volunteers immerse themselves in local cultures and share their experiences when they return home with family, friends, and the public. This helps promote cultural understanding, volunteerism, and public service."
Truly wonderful piece. The drive behind these cuts isn't about waste or inefficiency; it's about cutting initiatives that aim to decrease cynicism and create citizens that are more empathetic and knowledgeable about worlds outside of their own. Because an insulated, cynical, fearful and untrusting populace is easier to control.
I thought about that too. I’m not sure whether to give them that much credit, but it might be the case. They’re certainly intentionally hollowing out the intellectual life of the nation.
Also, thanks!
Well written.
beautiful essay!
wonderful words of advocacy 🙏 (btw, what summit on trust and liberal democracy did you attend, and have you or others written about it?)
It was a summit organized by the Hewlett Foundation and the Institute for Humane Studies. It brought together academics, philanthropists, and research orgs like Pew to think about models for building trust and reducing polarization. It was a really wonderful event. It was an intentionally ideologically diverse group, which was great. I'll write something up for next week.
Thanks, Lauren. Sounds like an amazing experience--even with its flaws.
This is an excellent piece — well written, important and persuasive. I would love information on the summit…”intentionally ideologically diverse” group sounds inspiring. Our skill and facilitation method of Real Dialogue belong in an environment like that. We create a dialogue in which people speak subjectively, as human beings, about their differences, fears and values. They are coached and facilitated to step back from “making a case” and instead are meant to lean into “making sense” of each others’ experiences and points of view. It’s like what the Dalai Lama said about increasing world peace by having more picnics: people getting to know each others’ perspectives not to invalidate them, but to see alternatives. During polarized contentious debates, and often during all political conversations, only one side is developed and heard. Everything is a debate in which one person/group is promoting and protecting itself. Outcomes are predictable and insulting or humiliating to one side or the other. I know we can do better because I have now facilitated and taught hundreds of hours, probably thousands, of this humanized kind of conflict. I have learned so many new things listening to BOTH sides and feeling relieved that everything people have said is valuable and human-sized when it is understood as subjective. We are the Center for Real Dialogue at www.realdialogue.org and we are looking to connect with partnering organizations in business and higher education. Thanks for an excellent essay.
So many beautiful stories and well-made points in this essay. I did a year of service in Puerto Rico between college and grad school and it shaped my life in so many ways.