Network Nation

Let me interject a thought...at some point, and I believe that time is upon us, we must set aside theory and apply out collective best thinking to how WE can help slow down this run away engine of our government and turn it in a new direction. This years NCDD conference theme invites this.

On Wednesday, May 28, 2014, Rick Raddatz <rickrad@me.com> wrote:

Thank you for this Sandy. I will read it tomorrow first thing.

In the mean time, I would like to make clear that the 6 fundamental truths I proposed earlier are very different than the "truths" conservatives might rest on.

These truths are self-contained, simple statements -- very similar to "I think, therefore I am". Only here, I am saying, "one person exists, therefore individual ambition exist... individual resources exist... And individual conflict (conflict WITHIN the individual) exists".

And since these truths "appear" instantly simply because we humans exist in sufficient numbers and sufficient proximity, this means these truths are very fundamental...

In other words, these truths constrain (focus) our dialog (or should) regardless of political persuasion, religion, culture or race.

This is why I believe they have an important role to play in the transpartisan movement.

As for Michael B's objections -- I suspect that responding to them via email would cause an explosion of emails too detailed for most on this list. Michael, I invite you to call me at 303-949-8075. I would enjoy that conversation.

- Rick

On May 28, 2014, at 9:15 PM, Sandy Heierbacher <sandy@NCDD.ORG> wrote:

This reminds me of something we talked about at the 2008 National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation. Some of you may not know that one of the 5 areas we focused on at that conference (in Austin) was what we called "The Framing Challenge." The framing challenge was focused on the question "How can we talk about this work (dialogue and deliberation) in a way that's accessible to a broader audience," and we looked particularly at conservatives.

Here's a segment from an article I wrote on the framing challenge and another focus area we called the systems challenge:

  In their workshop, Attracting Conservative Citizens to Dialogue Events: Liberal-Conservative Campus Dialogue & Mormon-Evangelical Interfaith Initiatives, Jacob Hess and Reverend Greg Johnson explained some of the sources of wariness of dialogue on the part of many social conservatives. One is the fear of being asked to give up truth or absolutes, as dialogue can seem to assume that all truth is relative.
            One participant wrote this reflection about Hess and Johnson's powerful session:
"I had a big, big revelation [during your session]. At 64, I have thought my whole life that to be open-minded, all accepting, non-judgmental toward different people, beliefs, and values was an absolute good thing. How could it be bad to be tolerant, embracing, accepting all beliefs as valid? Wouldn't everyone appreciate that attitude, since it includes everyone? What I heard from you is that having an absolute truth is fundamentally, critically important to you. It is the most important thing. It may be easier for you to deal with each other, or with others who have conflicting versions of the truth, than to do deal with someone like me who doesn't seem to advocate any particular truth, but sees it all as relative."
            I attended this workshop myself, and heard others share similar realizations. Often, dialogue is said to bring people together whose viewpoints and experiences contribute important "pieces of the puzzle" for making progress on issues like racial inequity, education reform, and youth violence. But framing dialogue in relativist terms may backfire for some audiences. According to Hess and Johnson, it may be important to reassure conservatives that "truth Capital T is still welcome" -- as long as they also agree to be open to learning more.

My full article can be downloaded at http://ncdd.org/rc/item/3387 if anyone is interested. If you want to dig even further into this, I highly recommend reading Jacob Hess' report on the framing challenge, which you can download at http://ncdd.org/rc/item/4226.

Sandy Heierbacher
Dire

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