Better Angels Depolarizing Within Workshop

The United States is disuniting. The last presidential election only made clear what many have feared – that we’re becoming two Americas, each angry with the other, and neither trusting the other’s basic humanity and good intentions. Today Americans increasingly view their political opponents not only as misguided, but also as bad people whose ways of thinking are both dangerous and incomprehensible. This degree of civic rancor threatens our democracy.

Braver Angels Alliance of Fairfax

Depolarizing Within: Becoming a Better Angel in Your Own World
A Better Angels Workshop

1301 Gladewood Dr

Much of today’s epidemic of toxic polarization is driven by how we talk with like-minded people about those on the other side. Too often we stereotype, dismiss, or ridicule our fellow citizens who support the other political party, its leaders, and its policies. Although political polarization in some form has always been around, it was less problematic when people interacted more outside their own silos. Nowadays, people on the other side have become not just strangers but enemies. How we talk among ourselves about them fuels fires that threaten our democracy.

This workshop will help you become more aware of your inner polarizer; learn ways to depolarize yourself so that you can disagree without demonizing, dismissing, or stereotyping the people who differ from you politically; teach you skills for how to intervene in social conversations when they veer into contempt and ridicule for people who hold other political views. 

FACILITATOR
Rev. Jamie McReynolds is the Better Angels coordinator for the southern part of Virginia. He is a Unitarian Universalist community minister and chaplain, working to build community across political and cultural divides.

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Better Angels Depolarizing Within Workshop

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Better Angels Depolarizing Within Workshop

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