What makes political engagement socially challenging is that we live in a culture of bullying. As a society, we seem to be confused about our boundaries. On social media, we have all had to deal with bullies, haters, and trolls. This is all the more true if you have significant social influence or a public profile. We saw this demonstrated painfully with all the hateful attacks on President Barack Obama since his election. Sadly, bullying has been on display nonstop on national TV as so-called news and it is politically and financially rewarded. So, its been tough for many of us to seek political change in this environment. We can change the norm by challenging ourselves and our peers to be respectful so that we can communicate effectively to each other and participate in our democratic process without fear. In Bridge the Divide Discussion Group (a facebook group that I started 2 years ago), the admins and I came up with this basic community agreement recently. Bridge the Divide Members agree to: 1) recognize the dignity and unique identity of all participants; 2) strive to be civil and fair toward all participants; 3) respect and even find value in our differences; 4) strive to understand one another, rather than persuade; 5) limit criticisms to ideas rather than the supposed character or motivations of people. Im rather proud of it. What do you think? Id like to invite you to join and see how we can try to change the prevailing norms and encourage more self-awareness for all participants in a group setting.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 20:21:59 +0000