Bridging Divides
The United States is facing a cultural crisis. Increasingly in America today, we don’t just disagree; we distrust, dislike, even despise those who see the world differently. Animosity for positions is becoming contempt for the people who hold them. Difference and disagreement are deeply personal as we rage against and recoil from those we see as enemies across widening divides—political, racial, religious, economic and more. Most of us see fewer things that bind Americans together today and have few or no friends from the other side. The rate of loneliness has more than doubled to nearly 50%, creating a public health epidemic. We’re withdrawing from conversations—thereby eroding relationships and understanding—which threatens the foundational fabric of America. 75% of Americans say this problem has reached a crisis level, and 56% believe it will only get worse. Our condition is rapidly deteriorating into what’s now being described as a soft civil war.
There’s nothing wrong with passionate beliefs, disagreement, and protest, but it feels like something more dangerous is taking hold. Do you see it? Personally feel it? What’s changed? What can we do about it together? How we can bridge the divides that threaten our future?
Conversation Guides
Reaching Across the Divide (Essential Partners)
Talking Politics (Living Room Conversations)
United or Divided (Living Room Conversations)
Bridging the Political Divide (National Institute for Civil Discourse)
A House Divided: What Would We Have to Give Up to Get the Political System We Want? (National Issues Forums)
Background
Featured articles and research on polarization (Listen First Project)
The Role of Critical Thinking in Promoting Civil Discourse (ProCon.org)
Latest news on Polarization, Media Bias, and Bridging Divides (AllSides)
Polarization as understood differently across the political spectrum (AllSides)