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
Have you seen the classic movie, Gaslight? It’s the story of a husband who slowly manipulates his wife into believing that she is insane because she imagines things, which are real, such as a gaslight flickering. This is the film noir version of the Marx Brothers quip, “Who you gonna believe, me or your lying … Continue reading Un-Gaslighting
These are words of Megan Rapinoe, star of the US Women’s Soccer team, which just won the World Cup. She continued, “We got to know that this is everybody’s responsibility. Every single person here, every single person who’s not here, every single person who doesn’t want to be here. Every single person who agrees and … Continue reading We Have to Love More, Hate Less. We Got to Listen More and Talk Less.
Many Democratic candidates for president have addressed questions about whether the US should make “reparations” for slavery (and other social injustices). Unfortunately, that term is confusing and scary for some people (including some of the candidates) who conceive of it simply as making cash payments to certain individuals. In fact, the proponents are suggesting something … Continue reading Benefits of Reframing “Reparations”
Several new articles reflect what I think are good and bad approaches to dealing with historic injustices that I described in a recent post. For some reason, a 1971 Playboy interview of John Wayne just went viral. In it, he said, “I believe in white supremacy,” and justified “our so-called stealing of our country” from … Continue reading More about Our Need for Truth and Reconciliation
Donald Trump. Anthony Weiner. Ralph Northam. Kevin McCarthy. Justin Fairfax. Steve King. Antonin Scalia. Brett Kavanaugh. Roy Moore. Al Franken. James Watt. Bill Clinton. Ronald Reagan. Richard Nixon. George H.W. Bush. Bernie Sanders. Spiro Agnew. Eric Schneiderman. Ilhan Omar. Eliot Spitzer. Harry Reid. Mike Huckabee. Joe Biden. George Allen. Ben Carson. Paul Ryan. Jesse Jackson. … Continue reading Our Need for Truth, Reconciliation, and Justice