This article introduces Tami Pyfer, Utah Demonstration Project Lead of the Dignity Index, a rhetorical scoring scale for politicians developed to address issues of scapegoating, polarization, and other divisive language in politics. 

What is the difference between good and great communication skills? Sharon Kristjanson suggests it is the ability to examine our judgments that skew our understanding of the world. Her vision is a world with more collaborative and productive discussions, regardless of politics or background.

I love her analogy of an 8-piece and a 1000-piece puzzle.

This article stresses the importance of using language carefully and adapting an attitude of openness and curiosity rather than anger or distrust. "People want to feel heard," the article advises. The article eschews an us-against-them approach in controversial topics such as gun control, abortion and healthcare, and espouses a larger, more unified perception of self and others to enhance intercultural communication. 

In this TEDTalk, Celeste Headlee advocates for active listening and other strategies to better help individuals understand the viewpoints of those different from them. 

Bruce Springsteen teamed up with Jeep in their latest commercial, aired during Super Bowl 55, to envision a United States with a common, middle ground. 

In this webinar, several interculturalists discuss the meanings surrounding liberal vs. conservative and how their differences result in cultural divides. The goal of this video is to help heal the national divide in the United States and promote tolerance and inclusion across party lines. 

Jonathan Rauch, Senior Fellow of Governance Studies at The Brookings Institution, and Mitch Daniels, President of Purdue University, discuss his upcoming book, The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth, which highlights how individuals can support the pursuit of truth during a time when facts have become negotiable. 

A mother (Deborah Homeistar) and son (Ryan Spahn) were able to grow closer and become more understanding of each other during the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine, despite their significant political differences (Homeistar voted for Trump and Spahn voted for Biden). This article features a recorded conversation between the two. They discuss how they manage their differences and what more they could both do to better understand each other. 

In this clip of The Today Show, the candidates in the Utah Governor race discuss the ad that they made together where they called for respect and unity between both sides of the political aisle. 

This article depicts two families with differing political views who put signs in their yard to demonstrate that they still love and respect each other despite their differences. 

From their "What We Do" page: "Launched in 2016, Better Angels is a national citizens’ movement to bring liberals and conservatives together at the grassroots level — not to find centrist compromise, but to find one another as citizens. Through workshops, debates, and campus engagement, Better Angels helps Americans understand each other beyond stereotypes, form community alliances, and reduce the vitriol that poisons our civic culture."

From Matthew: "Both of my grandparents voted for Trump. That doesn't make them any less my grandparents, like I may disagree with them on some political things...We just have to talk to folks like they are people."

In this episode of Clear + Vivid, Alan Alda interviews Christian Picciolini, a former member of a neo-Nazi group who now works to disengage people from extremist hate movements. During the interview, Picciolini describes his process for getting individuals to leave hateful ideologies behind: He first listens to them and engages them on a personal level. Then, when they're ready, he takes them to meet people who they thought they had hated. He says, "I can tell you that every single time I've done that, I've never had a bad experience and everybody's always walked away different."

UNESCO and Darla Deardorff collaborated on a concrete method for developing intercultural competence. The method is designed so that facilitators with varying levels of experience and resources can successfully lead the activity. 

Powerful conversations over a potluck dinner, centering on the question, "What needs healing here?"

From the DDI homepage: "The Division of Diversity and Inclusion is introducing a programmatic theme for 2020: Democracy, Civility, and Freedom of Expression. Throughout the spring semester, students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members are invited to engage in conversations about and consider the importance of each element of the theme. Activities and events will include interactive workshops, inspiring performances, high-impact public speakers, and innovative conversational gatherings."

The power of (1) looking someone in the eye and (2) listening

Disagree Better: Empathy Gym is a tool that can be used to facilitate conversation between people across party lines. In this activity based on Jamil Zaki's concept of the empathy gym, participants will have a conversation with someone who has a different view than them. Instead of arguing, they will ask each other how they came to develop that opinion and simply listen to each other's point of view.

WeThePurple is a bipartisan coalition aiming to restore U.S. citizens' faith in the country's democratic values and promote civic engagement. The coalition publishes a podcast that discusses issues facing the American democratic system, and they encourage dialogue across party lines.

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) talk about their participation in the reality TV show - Rival Survival, in which the two of them need to fight to survive on a deserted island.

From the transcript: "You know, this idea of purity and you’re never compromised and you’re always politically woke and all that stuff — you should get over that quickly. The world, the world is messy. There are ambiguities. 00:00:16.440 —> 00:00:22.450 People who do really good stuff have flaws. Like if I tweet or hashtag about how you didn’t do something right or used the word – wrong verb or then I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself because, 'Man, you see how woke I was, I called you out.' I get on TV. Watch my show. Watch 'Grown-ish.' You know, that’s not activism. That’s not bringing about change."

"If everything else were equal then there is some truth to what you say, because one of the big findings in personality research on politics … What’s different about the personalities of people on the left and the right is that people who have one of the big five traits, the five main personality traits, one of them is openness to experience. Kids who are born … It is partly heritable. People who are born and raised … When they’re kids they just like trying different things, they like exploring different things, they’re more open to new foods and experiences, it’s a fairly stable personality trait. Such people tend to be more attracted to progressive or left-wing causes. People who like order, predictability, stability, routine, they do tend to be attracted more to conservative parties, and that’s true around the world."