Why is it important to engage in civil dialogue?
About this video
A former governor explains that problems get solved by building consensus, which requires civil discourse. He describes treating people who disagree as opponents to persuade rather than enemies, and how as governor he looked for common ground with people unlike himself to get policies done.
You'll be able to
- explain why civil discourse is needed to solve problems.
- describe the difference between seeing someone as wrong and seeing them as an enemy.
- explain how finding common ground helps build a partnership on a policy.
Key words
- consensus
- General agreement among a group, reached by finding what people can accept together.
- civil discourse
- Respectful discussion between people who disagree, aimed at understanding and solving problems.
- common ground
- Points or goals that people agree on even when they disagree about other things.
- fora
- Plural of forum: places or events where people meet to discuss issues.
Transcript
Video Title: Why is it important to engage in civil dialogue? Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MnTxD0Wr_U Transcript generated by YouTube Transcript Generator - Extract transcripts from any YouTube video instantly at https://transcriptgenerator.org ======================================== We've got problems. Rather than focus on what divides us, the way you solve problems is to try to build consensus to solve them, that requires civil discourse. I don't know how many places we disagree, but we don't focus on that, we focus on the things where there is an agreement, and where you might disagree with me, I don't think you're the enemy.
I might think you're wrong, and we could have a lively debate about that, or you might think I'm wrong and try to persuade me, but right now, if someone disagrees with you at the extreme, it's a form of violence. You're in my space, and I want safety. Rather than say, well, have you thought about this? Have you thought about that? That's a unique situation that we need to avoid.
I think creating these fora, which you have done magnificently at the National Constitution Center, have people of diverse views on a subject and allow that dialogue where people learn from each other in a very civil manner is hugely important. We need thousands of those right now, and a little less of the screaming and yelling at each other. I was governor 20 years ago.
It wasn't that long ago, but it's like ancient history compared to today. Our first impulse, and I would say this wasn't just me, it was political leaders in that era, my first impulse, when I had an idea that I wanted to implement was to find someone that didn't look like me, didn't agree with me on many things, but there was common ground on that one thing, and to forge a consensus and build a partnership around that fact that we agreed on this issue to build out from there to get a policy objective done. We need to start getting to the solutions part of this, and that requires civil discourse far better than what we're doing now.
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