Our democracy

can’t keep this up much longer.

We’ve got to

Do something

Different.

3

People who care about where our nation is headed, we have a problem.

 

I call it the Culture of Contempt, and it stands on three pillars:
9
Mythology of Difference:
We define the world as us vs them. When we encounter something or someone that throws us off balance, we frame it as a problem external to us. That’s a choice we make. It may be reflexive, but it’s not a given. Difference can be the catalyst of our demise. Or the promise of our future — if we build the skills to relate to it, rather than dismiss or dominate it. Without those skills you end up falling into the…
9
Trap of Opposition:
If “they” are the problem, the logical step is to oppose them. We focus on what we stand against rather than what we are committed to and willing to be responsible for. In defining our vision of the world as mere opposition to something, we deny ourselves the possibility of creating a world outside the zero-sum binary of either/or. What’s more, when we define our vision this way, we inevitably confront…
9
Problem of Sovereignty:

In the face of difference, we seek the apparent comfort and safety of a crowd whose worldview seems aligned with our own, subjecting ourselves to the crowd’s demand that we all think, act, and feel the same. In crowdsourcing our actions and beliefs, we abandon all possibility for the world we say we want to create.

All of us—regardless of our cause, ideology, religious affiliation, political party, or ethnic background—make choices every day that uphold the Culture of Contempt.

 

This has got to stop if our
democracy is to endure.

Maybe you aren’t sure what you, as just one person, can do to turn back this tide that’s engulfing our families, our friendships, our communities, our workplaces, and our country…

Maybe you’re feeling swept up in this culture yourself… and you can’t see your way free of it…

Maybe it turns out that the people you once thought of as the “adults in the room” actually aren’t…

 

And something inside
you knows we can’t
keep going like this.

 

We just can’t.

So, what can you do?

All work gets done through relating⁠—dismantling the Culture of Contempt is no exception.

So I invite you to relate.

Join me in a conversation about the things that actually matter.

Not whether blue or red wins next time around. Not the latest outrage of the moment. And sure as hell not who we’re going to run out of town with pitchforks next.

But, instead, what you’re doing about your participation in the Culture of Contempt.

Where you get stuck with it, right here, right now, in real life.

And what you actually want to do about it.

 

The future of our democracy depends on it.

Ready to move beyond the Culture of Contempt?

 

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