[h/t Rockford Register Star]
Phew!
The holidays are past, and with them the potential for more unpleasant conversations and awkward silences among family members of divergent political persuasions. You know what we mean.
In one corner is old Uncle Ted, MAGA cap firmly in place. Keeping her distance in another corner is Aunt Nancy, who proved her liberal bona fides in the late ’60s when she protested the Vietnam War and can’t get over the results of the 2016 presidential election. In the next room, Ted’s daughter, Cousin Katie, born in 1998, and with a boyfriend who just learned he’s headed to the Middle East, is trying to talk about current affairs with Cousin Connor, a millennial software developer with a mile-wide libertarian streak. He doesn’t bite.
Why can’t these people just talk to each other?
That’s the fundamental question behind Braver Angels, a national citizens’ movement to bring together liberals and conservatives in the interest of getting them to understand each other beyond the cable TV stereotypes. The movement teaches techniques for productive conversations across the political divide.
Braver Angels is coming to Rockford on Saturday, thanks to the Rockford Public Library. The library will screen a documentary, “Braver Angels: Reuniting America,” which tells the story of what happened before, during and after a Braver Angels “Red/Blue” workshop in Ohio.
After the film, the audience will have an opportunity to see Braver Angels techniques in action during a discussion among red- and blue-leaning residents of the Rockford area.
It all starts a 9 a.m. Saturday at the Nordlof Center, 118 N. Main St. If you’re interested, register online at https://services.rockfordpubliclibrary.org/event/3751481. (You do not need a library card number to attend.)
Try it out. You might tap into your own braver angels.
For full article go to:
https://www.rrstar.com/opinion/20200109/our-view-find-out-how-to-bridge-red-blue-divide
