Don Schweitzer

Understanding Before Persuasion Advocacy often begins with a reasonable question: How do we get other people to understand what we see? We gather evidence, sharpen our arguments, tell stories, identify harms, and try to explain why an issue deserves attention. When people remain unconvinced, the instinct is often to explain it again, perhaps with better evidence, stronger language, or greater urgency. If they could just see what we see, we think, they would understand why this matters. Photo...

Martin Luther King Jr.’s philosophy of nonviolence is often remembered as a strategy for social change. We remember the marches, boycotts, sit-ins, speeches, and acts of civil disobedience. We remember the discipline required to face hostility without responding in kind. We remember nonviolence as a way of applying pressure while refusing to become violent. But King’s approach was more demanding than a set of tactics. The King Center describes six steps of nonviolent social change:...

“We don't need to disagree less; we need to disagree better.” — Arthur C. Brooks We often talk about polarization as if it means people disagree too much. But disagreement is not the problem. Disagreement is normal in a pluralistic society and in any social setting. It is what happens when humans have different experiences, values, priorities, knowledge bases, and visions of the good. A healthy society, like a community or relationship, needs the capacity to hold disagreement. It's in the...