Laura Chasin of Public Conversations Project sent me this link about a new experiment they are running. They are managing a facilitated online dialogue between people with different political points of view. The purpose of this effort is to “reduce invective debate and [to] set the stage for the deeper dialogue [that is] so necessary to…solving the problems our nation faces.”
I participated in a different PCP dialogue (live, not online) years ago, and I have to say it was extremely rewarding. Before the dialogue, I was terribly worried about it, because I was afraid of
- insulting someone
- being insulted
- losing an argument
- getting angry
- making someone else angry
PCP has a fascinating system for preventing all these unpleasant things from happening. Their process has its roots in family therapy.
They need several hundred volunteers to try the online experiment. Time commitment: about 2-3 hours over a period of 2 weeks.
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