That’s the title of a provocative article by Michael Luo in the New Yorker. President Trump is a purveyor extraordinaire of nonstop toxic polarizing conflict, enabled by leaders in his party. Many people in our field understandably want him to leave office and stop (or reduce) his inflammatory words and actions. If Vice President Biden … Continue reading Could Joe Biden Actually Bring America Back Together?
The Boston Law Collaborative Institute will offer the following programs on implicit and systemic bias. October 15: “Assessing Workplace Bias in the Era of #MeToo and Black Lives Matter,” with Jody Newman, Esq. October 27: “Biased? Who, Me?!? A Candid Look at the Problem of Implicit Bias,” with Audrey Lee, Matt Thompson, and David Hoffman. … Continue reading Upcoming Educational Programs
This post reviews a wonderful new book, the “new edition” of America’s Peacemakers: The Community Relations Service and Civil Rights by Bertram Levine and Grande Lum, published by the University of Missouri Press. Levine, who died in 2006, published the first edition covering events up to 1990 in Part I. Lum discusses events since then, … Continue reading Timely New Book on Racial Reconciliation Initiative
The New York Times published an important, timely article, 5 People Who Can Help You Strengthen Your Empathy Muscle. It summarizes advice of five people who have spent their lives studying, understanding and practicing empathy. Take a look. (Click the title of this post to get the link to the article.)
Jeff Trueman, an experienced Maryland mediator and Pepperdine LLM candidate, wrote an excellent article about the challenges of lawyers, mediators, and insurance claims professionals in mediation. He interviewed subjects about their problems in mediation, and his study provided evidence of professionals behaving badly, very consistent with my post about BATNAs and the emotional pains of … Continue reading Jeff Trueman’s Study on Nightmares of “Positional” Tactics in Mediation
Public revulsion at the killings of George Floyd and other Blacks has led many people to challenge accepted accounts of our history reflected in symbols such as Confederate flags, statues, and names of military bases, educational institutions, and sports teams. Many organizations, including universities, are taking a much more serious look at institutionalized racism in … Continue reading Some History of Racial Issues in the US
An article by Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari, The World After Coronavirus, describes general dynamics of crises and particularly the current crisis: Many short-term emergency measures will become a fixture of life. That is the nature of emergencies. They fast-forward historical processes. Decisions that in normal times could take years of deliberation are passed in … Continue reading Communication, Privacy, and Community in the New Normal
According to a news report last week, “President Trump brought his trademark disruptive approach to the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, telling attendees of a gathering meant to promote reconciliation, unity and prayer that his political opponents are ‘dishonest and corrupt people’ and that God is on the side of his supporters. “The president’s speech … Continue reading We Should Try to Understand and Respect, if Not Love, Our “Enemies”
This jumbo-size post is the last part in the Theory of Change Symposium. But don’t despair. I am compiling all the pieces – and some new material – into an e-book that will be distributed soon, as described at the end of this post. This part of the symposium includes several pieces describing important techniques … Continue reading Theory of Change Symposium – Part 5 and Coming Attractions
From AFFOI Rishi Batra: On Monday, July 29th, several law professors from around the country who teach alternative dispute resolution met at the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) conference in Boca Raton, FL for a wide-ranging discussion entitled “Using Dispute Resolution Skills to Teach Current Events.” Among those present were Cynthia Alkon (Texas A&M), … Continue reading Using Dispute Resolution Skills to Teach Current Events
I was going to post the piece below riffing on Arthur C. Brooks’s column about de-polarizing political biases. And then came the Democratic presidential debates this week, which provided a glaring example of how political biases often are generated and spread. This post uses these debates as an illustration of the process and then discusses … Continue reading Political De-Biasing
“Mediators equalize the power between the parties.” Have you heard that claim? I used to hear it with some frequency, though (fortunately) not much lately. Considering this idea even for a nano-second, obviously it is wildly optimistically untrue as a generalization – and it doesn’t even make sense in individual cases. Some of the discussion … Continue reading For Pragmatic Romanticism About ADR, Understanding Why the “Haves” Come Out Ahead