episode 20
“Honoring Dignity & Leading in Polarization” with David Brubaker
David and Duncan delve deep into how trauma impacts polarization, including our epigenetics. That’s why it’s so important to know how to deal with trauma appropriately and recognize its wider effect on all of us.
David explains how people choose their side regardless of how much sense the other side makes. He tells an anecdote about Israel and Palestine where one side shunned their own idea because they thought it came from the other.
Polarization is real and dangerous, and it’s up to us to understand and fix the rift it creates.
- Learn the definition of polarization and the different levels of conflict.
- Discover the importance of honoring each other’s dignity, even when we don’t agree.
- Learn about the history of Mennonites and their involvement in conflict resolution.
- David explains how polarized people choose their side, regardless of the logic presented by the other side.
- Duncan and David discuss the history that’s led to polarization.
- Uncover why avoiding conflict isn’t the answer.
- Learn why trauma makes polarization worse and why it’s important to understand how to deal with it.
- David explains why Confederate statues were built in the South.
- Understand why epigenetics might cause people of color to run from the police.
Click here to download the transcript
Cooperative By Design is a consortium of peacebuilding practitioners, each committed to creating a more just and peaceful world by enabling healthier families, societies, organizations, communities and natural world.
The Congregational Consulting Group is a network of independent consultants. They publish weekly thoughts on topics of interest to leaders of congregations and other purpose-driven organizations.
Race & History (Collection of Fractal Friends episodes about Race, Diversity & Anti-Oppression)
“Rediscovering & Healing Our Ancestors” with Lyla June
“Understanding our Shared Liberation” with David Dean
“Talking about Racism: Unmasking the Elephant in the Room” with Ann-Ellice Parker
Politics and Polarization (Collection of Fractal Friends episodes about: Transforming Politics and Democracy)
“Relating Deeply and Facing Reality” with Ashok Panikkar
“Transcending Political Polarization” with Steve McIntosh
“Evolving Democracy with Cultural Intelligence” with Steve McIntosh
“The Emergence of Wise Democracy” with Tom Atlee
“Transforming Conflict and Co-Creating the Future of Democracy” with Kenneth Cloke
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- Moral imagination requires the capacity to imagine ourselves in a web of relationships, one that includes even our enemies.
- It requires the ability to embrace complexity without getting caught up in social schism.
- It requires a commitment to the creative act.
- It requires an acceptance of the risk that necessarily goes along with attempts to transcend violence.
Beyond Intractibilty offers a summary of The Moral Imagination here.
Here is another ”Summary of the Moral Imagination” written by Michelle Maiese at the Conflict Research Consortium.
Level One: A Problem to Solve – Conflicting goals, values, needs. Problem oriented rather than person oriented.
Level Two: Disagreement – Mixing of personalities and issues, problem cannot be clearly defined. Beginning of distrust and personalizing problem.
Level Three: Contest – Begin the dynamics of “win/lose.” Personal attacks. Formation of factions, sides, camps. Distortion a major problem.
Level Four: Fight/Flight – Shifts from winning to getting rid of person(s). Factions are solidified. Talk now takes on the language of “principles,” not “issues.”
Level Five: Intractable Situations – No longer clear understanding of issue(s); personalities have become the focus. Conflict is now unmanageable. Energy is centered on the elimination and/or destruction of the person(s).
Essential Partners “believes that every community has the power to improve the way it approaches differences of values, views, and identities. For more than three decades, EP has helped civic groups, faith communities, colleges, and workplaces foster resilience, cohesion, understanding, and trust.” Essential Partners has an amazing Resource Library which includes these lists of sample questions, like the one David and I discuss in the episode.
STAR: Strategies for Trauma Awareness & Resilience
From the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University is a framework that integrates material from: trauma and resilience studies; restorative justice; conflict transformation; human security and spirituality.
Author of My Grandmother’s Hands: The first self-discovery book to examine white body supremacy in America from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology.
His talks on the On Being with Krista Tippett are a powerful introduction to the relationship of trauma and race.
This segment from the On The Media podcast “Lessons From the Contentious Election of 1876” does a great job of explaining how scary the polarization in the United States was around the Civil War.
A deep exploration about the divisions in our culture. I highly recommend reading it. Here are two chapters relevant to the conversation:
About The Omni-Win Project
Our mission: facilitating the healing and evolution of our democratic systems and political culture, so that we can co-create a future that works for everyone.
Meet The Host
My purpose in life is to support an omnipartial revolution. How? By helping the world understand the fractal nature of conflict and how we can transform conflict into a positive and inspiring experience. We are all in this together. I firmly believe we can do this complex dance through life with much more grace and beauty.
I am specifically committed to transforming how we work together in teams and organizations and how we experience conflict and collaboration in our democracy.
Fractal Friends
Fans of the Omni-Win project podcast will enjoy this collection of episodes: https://www.fractalfriends.us/transforming-politics about Transforming Politics and Healing Democracy