In case you have been living under a rock the past week, you may have heard something about the Mueller Report being delivered to the Attorney General & the findings did not implicate President Trump of any wrong doing. Even before the report was released people were salivating about what it would say but count me as one person who was thinking the report would not make a difference at all. Why do you ask? Simple, regardless of what that report said each side was going to reject the data and evidence and continue to believe the same thing.
Since it came out that Trump did not do anything wrong, I knew that Democrats were going to say the report was fixed or still somehow believe that he was guilty. If the opposite happened, then Republicans would have rejected the evidence and said that it was a fake witch hunt & failed attempt to impeach the president.
That is the world that we live in…a post facts world where people deny evidence that contradicts what they want to believe. We literally live in a world where liberals and conservatives live in an alternate reality with its own data, evidence and rules. And we wonder why we are gridlocked as a country!
How do we get everyone to come together when the media and political campaigns are basically trying to divide us and reject the reality that doesn’t support what they want you to believe? As a fellow researcher & professional, we have failed in using science and research to talk to people and explain the world around then. In fact we have flat out failed in talking to people in a way that actually makes them want to talk with us.
So what do we do? According to our guest Dan Evans of the non-profit organization People of Reason & Progress, maybe we should do less talking and more listening. Instead of trying to change people’s opinions maybe we shoudl start asking what they believe and why they believe that…and leave it at there. If we are going to change the polarization and divide in this country, we are going to need different ways of talking to each other and these suggestions are the best place to start.
Dan Evans is the chairmen of PORP, a nonprofit organization committed to supplanting unreasonable political action with ethical, evidence-based discourse that benefits the public interest. We fight for science, data, and facts through education, collaboration, and coordination. We are thrilled to have Dan on the show to help guide us on how to change the dialogue in this country.
As always I am joined by the Armchair QB himself Bill Reed to help keep me in-check and firmly in The Gray. Gray Matters Radio with Michael DeVine is a proud member of The Reporters Network family of podcasts. Listen to new episodes of Gray Matters Radio With Michael DeVine every Monday.
