How might we go beyond the futilities of reductionist debates and revive the art of civil discourses to solve our complex web of self-inflicted wicked problems?
How might we use egalitarian decision-making to set the agenda for civil discourse?
How might we understand the futility of debates?
Reductionist debates, especially political ones, are the one-up-manship of zero-sum, win-lose games: “I'm right, you're wrong,” This reinforces dichotomous ways of fundamentalist thinking. Debates become tit-for-tat points and counterpoints that divide us and impair the prospects of reaching agreements.
The hubris of supercilious debates is the art of rhetorical persuasion. They are more about winning an argument than solving our complex web of self-inflicted, wicked problems in the 21st century.
Wicked problems are complex in that they have no simple, single, final solution, with no right-wrong answers, such as the abuses of power: BIPID (biases, isms, prejudices, inequities, discriminations), human rights violations, self-righteous fundamentalism, the neo-terrorism of disinformation, dysfunctional polarizations and triangulations, toxic divisiveness, and political corruption: to name a few.
Reductionist linear thinking and righteous emotional reactivity worsen our interconnected and interdependent wicked problems.
Debates exacerbate our disagreements and differences in ways that reduce the middle ground of agreements and fracture our common humanity.
Debates are an antiquated futile practice:
a colonial academic vestige of rhetorical narcissism.
Civil discourse and generative dialogues are distinct from civil and uncivil debates. These types of conversations overcome the futility of debates. They call for reviving the learning paradigms of civil discourse and generative dialogues.
How might we cultivate equanimity, ethical discernment, and egalitarianism of equity governance to solve our wicked problems?
Equity governance is about ensuring safety, trust, and the integrity of transparent accountability and truth-seeking to co-create fair rules, fair plays, fair games, fair opportunities, and fair rewards for the benefit of all, on a healthy planet. (The newsletter cited at the end further elaborates on the meaning of equity governance.)
Governance principles for guiding civil discourse
These principles (see list below) include using a blend of virtues: curiosity, cultural humility, open-mindedness, non-reactivity, the equanimity to respond to different viewpoints, and a commitment to truth-seeking with discernment. This calls for the rigorous discipline of using credible evidence to support opinions and claims to know.
These principles are essential for cultivating healthy democracies, where citizens are free to express their views and engage in constructive civil discourse and generative dialogues, without fears of marginalization and cancel culture.
Simple questions are insufficient for addressing the complexities of our monumental challenges. These principles (below) are posed as complex questions with statements. They aim to co-create learning environments of safety and trust. This is essential for reducing the emotional reactivity of closed-mindedness.
Complex questions crack open the door of closed-mindedness to allow new light in. Light illuminates our blind spots, ego-centric shadows, and dark sides. Light evokes new insights, perspectives, and breakthrough understandings that enable the open-mindedness of collaborative and transformational learning.
How might we:
Co-create the playful preconditions of the low emotional reactivity to adopt the beginner’s mind?
Mindful practices enable us to become more aware of the distinctions between our emotional reactivity of the ego-centric self (our blind spots, shadows, and dark sides) and the equanimity and emotional responsiveness of our transcendent Self.
Reverse the emotional regression into the debate mode?
Our egos have strong beliefs and attachments to our opinions that prevent us from understanding each other’s blind spots and shadows needed for collaboration and transformational learning experiences?
Move beyond our fast-thinking ADD world of superficiality?
Take time for slow thinking, self-reflection, deep contemplation, musing, and dialogues within beloved learning communities
Monitor what triggers the emotional reactivity to regress into the offensive-defensive mode of closed-mindedness?
Use reflection-on-action after conflictual conversations to work out alternative ways of having better conversations.
Actively listen especially to different points of view?
Take an inquiring stance to ask open-ended questions and make simple reflections (tell me more about that). Seek to understand before being understood. Different points of view (POV) shed light on our blind spots, shadows, and dark sides.
Adopt a non-judgmental curiosity about purpose and meaning?
Seek to understand their purpose and meaning and make sense of them before sharing how you understand them. Then offer a different framework of purpose and meaning.
Take the one-down, not-knowing position?
Use the practice of cultural humility to avoid triggering our limbic-amygdala-reptilian brains and impairing the higher functioning of our neocortical brains (such as metacognition and ethical discernment of morality-amorality-immorality, and emotional self-awareness)
Avoid implicit and explicit dysfunctional triangulations?
Prevent the political inside-outside dynamics of favoritism and the marginalization of non-mainstream points of view
Seek out a diversity of perspectives, points of view, and opinions?
Use different points of view (POV) to shed light on our blind spots, shadows, and dark sides. Diversity is essential to avoid the rabbit holes of closed-minded groupthink
Discern the distinctions between information, malinformation, misinformation, and disinformation?
Use credible third parties to verify and validate claims to know.
Become aware of false prophets, manipulative media mavericks, and cult media influencers?
Never rely on the biased opinions of one person without the rigorous discernment of evidence.
Call in domineering extrovert talkers?
Enable the equitable sharing of all voices, and allow introverts to express themselves without fear of rejection and retribution
Call out personal attacks, false assumptions, projections, and rants?
Focus on responding to the purpose of the exploratory inquiry and question. Discern the merits and demerits of the arguments and counter-arguments to avoid making personal remarks about an individual.
Enable responsible free speech?
Call out the irresponsible uses of free speech (such as lies and disinformation) that perpetrate and perpetuate BIPID (biases, isms, prejudices, inequities, and discriminations)
Understand how past wounds of Trauma-trauma (with large and small t’s) perpetuate the never-ending cycles of dysfunctional polarizations and triangulations?
Seek help to understand how the patterns of our responses are triggered by past unresolved issues that have failed to heal.
Hold a middle ground of agreements to enable disagreement in agreeable ways? Be clear about agreeing to agree and disagree. Use our differences to make a positive difference. Prevent dysfunctional polarizations from making our differences worse.
Use tri-polarity and dialectic strategies to navigate between the dynamics of polarities and polarizations?
Use attractors to open, inspire, and align our mindsets to serve the greater good.
Break the bonds of our broken leadership-influencers-followership models?
Learn how to become open-minded, truth-seeking, virtuous free thinkers collaborating to solve our wicked problems.
Use blended AI-guided asynchronous platforms and synchronous learning experiences to build exponential opportunities for accelerated learning that enable people to develop the art of civil discourse and generative dialogues?
Join #UniteEquityMuses, to cultivate the equity governance needed to launch Equity Moonshot story movement ( see article below).
These principles call for iteratively evaluating how well the agenda-setting process is working overtime to ensure effective practices of conducting civil discourses.
Egalitarian agenda-setting
A shared decision-making about setting the agenda is for conducting civil discourse. This prevents the dominance of one personality or an inside group from dominating the agenda over others.
Host an orientation about civil discourse to set group norms of behaviors. Use a list of resources (see below) to invite all participants to use one resource and report back on what they learned and what was new for them about the discipline of civil discourse.
Enable and activate all participants to offer ideas for civil discourse.
Give everyone equitable opportunities to give voice to what matters to them.
Communicate asynchronously to generate topics for civil discourse.
Use a consensus-building process to decide on a topic with 1-3 questions for discussion,
Provide advance notification with resources (original research articles, podcasts, newsletter, ) to prepare for civil discourse. Avoid or keep didactic presentations to less than 5 minutes to set the stage for civil discourse.
Set up themes and questions for several sessions in advance.
Acknowledge and respect the experiences and input of diverse voices.
Elicit diverse perspectives, ideas, evidence, and opinions to enrich the flow of civil discourse,
Rotate the role of the convenor of the session to enable group learning about the process of facilitating civil discourse.
Designate a silent observer to critique the skills of the facilitator.
Designate a silent observer to critique the learning process and notice what was not discussed for further discussion. What additional questions are worth exploring?
Perplexity.ai generated resources
Facilitator’s Guide to Equitable Decision-Making Training Module
Defining and evaluating equitable partnerships for tomorrow’s cities
We Do and the Impact it Has on Historically Marginalized People?
Fostering Civil Discourse A Guide for Classroom Conversations
Learn more about equity governance
Equity Moonshot is about how to codesign and build an equitable, regenerative, and sustainable future on a healthy planet.