A dozen or so people, diverse in age, ethnicity, and political leanings, have agreed to be part of a year-long experiment in civil discourse. Each month, we bring you a conversation with members of the group. Our aim: to observe whether the tone and quality of the conversation changes as they get to know one another over the course of the year.
And because it is a grand experiment, today will be a little different. Instead of talking with them in small groups of three – we’re in a round table setting of sorts with all six.
We’re also changing the way we tackle the discussion. In the first segment, we examine how the experiment is going from their point of view.
In the second segment, we unpack another controversial issue – the U.S. Border Wall. But if you’ve tuned in for the first two discussions, you know that the goal is not to debate the finer points of the issue at hand. It is, rather, to use a person’s position as the jumping off point for a deeper understanding of that person. We seek not to change opinions; rather, we seek to understand how a person arrived at their opinions – which is not usually not through academic analysis of an issue (although some of us like to tell ourselves it is).
While we’re not airing these shows live, we encourage you to weigh in after the show – and we might use your comment as a point of discussion for a future show. You can email us at coastline@whqr.org. Or find us on WHQR’s Facebook or Instagram.
Guests:
Kathryn, a nurse
Lee, an actor and woodworker
Lydia, an artist and mom to a toddler
Carl, retired from the Army and a teaching career – now a singer with a local band
Joe, psychologist and hypnotherapist and married to Kathryn
Bruce, retired engineer and very involved in his church
