3 Ideas for Communicating Across the Political Divide by Isaac Saul (TED)
Does the simple message
“1,000 illegal aliens were arrested by US Border Patrol after crossing the southern border on Monday.”
give the same message as
“1,000 undocumented immigrants turned themselves in to US Border Patrol after crossing the southern border on Monday.”
First, we really want to avoid making language choices that signal to people, “you are not on my team.“
That’s incredibly difficult.
We tend to use a group’s preferred term.
Maintain a neutral tone in the discussion and treat everyone’s position with tolerance.
Sometimes you have to follow your own thoughts, state them honestly, listen to the arguments,
make a call as best you can, and communicate your choice when asked.
I believe it is our responsibility to connect with people outside of our political tribes.
But that responsibility doesn’t only belong to the people communicating the news; it also lies with you and with me, the consumers.
And it requires that we all listen more neutrally, too.
I would hope that we can have an honest disagreement about it and be able to see each other as people who disagree instead of political enemies.
But that takes work.
I think it’s worth noting that sometimes a single word can mean totally different things to different groups.
… if you’re talking with someone who’s using a term in a way that you wouldn’t, a really simple and effective tactic is to ask them how they would define that term.
… in everyday life, you have to be sincere.
People know when they’re being pandered to.
You don’t have to make everybody happy, and you don’t even have to like the people that you disagree with.
But you ought to try communicating in ways that more than one […] tribe can hear you.
And when the other […] tribe is communicating, you should try your best to be tolerant of their language choices. That sometimes means calling a group something they prefer to be called, even if you disagree.
And it often means really hearing the intentions of another person, even if they are using language that puts you off.
The good news is that using more neutral language isn’t always difficult, and tolerance is a pretty easy bar to clear if you try.
Surtil : 