It is becoming increasingly hard, it seems, to have civil conversations. Amid an increasingly polarized political climate, families and friendships are being ruined by intense disagreements. According to a CBS News/YouGov poll, the majority of Americans now believe that their political adversaries pose the greatest threat to democracy and way of life. Many now dread family occasions like Thanksgiving and Christmas because of the awkward or heated political topics that will be discussed at the dinner table.

To discuss the importance of debate, disagreement and critical thinking skills, MintPress News’ Mnar Adley and Alan MacLeod are joined today by Nolan Higdon and Mickey Huff. Nolan is a lecturer at Merrill College and the Education Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is a regulator contributor to outlets such as Truthout and Counterpunch. In 2020, he published the first history of fake news, entitled “The Anatomy of Fake News: A Critical News Literacy Education.”

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