Listening Is the Antidote

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Dan: The idea of a listening society is what you're talking about, the idea of hidden tribes in america. We have these eight tribes, progressive activists, traditional liberals, the passive liberals, the politically disengaged, the moderates, the traditional conservatives and the devoted conservatives. And this is like, how do we tune the dials so we can actually hear? Dan: I hope the platforms take this seriouly over all in your work. You know, imagine twiter goes from the platform wher every on can speak with amegaphone to no, it's a platform wever one can hear each other.

What do you think the other side thinks? Guest Dan Vallone is the Director of More in Common U.S.A., an organization that’s been asking Democrats and Republicans that critical question. Their work has uncovered countless “perception gaps” in our understanding of each other. For example, Democrats think that about 30 percent of Republicans support "reasonable gun control," but in reality, it’s about 70 percent. Both Republicans and Democrats think that about 50 percent of the other side would feel that physical violence is justified in some situations, but the actual number for each is only about five percent. “Both sides are convinced that the majority of their political opponents are extremists,” says Dan. “And yet, that's just not true.” Social media encourages the most extreme views to speak the loudest and rise to the top—and it’s hard to start a conversation and work together when we’re all arguing with mirages. But Dan’s insights and the work of More in Common provide a hopeful guide to unraveling the distortions we’ve come to accept and correcting our foggy vision.