IT’S MESSY, BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE
HINT: IT’S MESSY, BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE.
Last week, I wrote about the responsibility to use words with intention, especially in these times of disinformation and polarization.
I stumbled upon this book by accident. Krista Tippett interviewed the author, Amanda Ripley, a while back and I happened to catch the rebroadcast.
Ripley was a journalist who at some point hit a wall, much as I did at one time, and for the same reason. Journalists believe that they can change the world by translating their own social awareness and passion into the stories of others, especially those whose voices are not often heard.
What she realized, writing when she did, was that she was simply contributing to the current echo chamber, around highly explosive issues, in which the language of various positions had so calcified that opponents were almost paralyzed within their ideological silos.
She left journalism for a time and understood a study of conflict, because she realized that every difficult situation in society — from family dysfunction to abortion rights to electoral politics to the rise of authoritarianism, were being shaped by the same conflict dynamics.
Understand conflict, she thought, and you can understand how to reduce it.
Listen
She identifies the corrosive contributors to our current conflicts, including people she calls “conflict entrepreneurs.” And she walks the reader through actual narratives, illuminated by clear principles, of people who were able to disrupt or modify the destructive elements that were preventing healing, resolution, and common goals, possible.
If there is creative work to be done in this area, and there is, Ripley’s book is a good place to start.
Susan Porter
March 30, 2023at9:36 amKathleen,
What a synchronicity! I just stumbled upon the same interview the other day listening to On Being, and I found it heartening to hear Amanda Ripley describing her ideas about how to listen better and communicate across the current divide. A wonderful interview. Thanks for sharing. I feel as though this is one interview (and the book) I’ll come back to many times.
Kathleen Hirsch
March 30, 2023at9:43 amGreat minds think alike? I’m glad to know you’ve heard it, Susan!
Nancy Rappaport
March 30, 2023at8:21 amSounds interesting ! I like that idea of an echo chamber
Kathleen Hirsch
March 30, 2023at8:24 amIt’s important and a good one for you — for all of us in these crazy times. The echo chamber concept is key.