Listening Way E-Book

S. A. Gibson

• Herausgeber: S. A. Gibson
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

Much of the conflict in the world today results from the inability of people with different opinions to listen thoughtfully to one another in an effort to find common ground.Each person has a different worldview and beliefs about events, politics, family and lifestyle both in their immediate environment and the world around him or her. Because of preconceived beliefs and growing tribal polarization, many individuals want to have their particular points of view verified and embraced by others.
Often times, conversations become one-way dialogues wherein a person has already made up their mind about an issue and is merely defending a position with the end desire being to convert the other party. In this case, the tools of persuasion used to convince others may, in fact, fuel increased disagreement and lead to unintended consequences. 
The Listening Way is meant to convey techniques of advocacy which use listening as a key component and demonstrates how listening can be a major component of advocacy among those who have differing opinions.

Leseprobe

Listening

Way

A Training Booklet for Effective Advocacy

S. A. Gibson

Listening Way

Copyright © 2017, 2019 by S. A. Gibson.

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations em- bodied in critical articles or reviews.

First Edition: Month 2017

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Talk and Listening

This little book is organized around the question, 'how can we communicate with those who disagree with us, so we both win?' The answer offered here will discuss listening and remembering our goals which we will outline below as we go.

In recent years, many of us have been discouraged by the antagonism and hostility surrounding political debate. In this polarized climate, even more so in our post-2015 world, it is often difficult to have a meaningful discussion with those whose opinions differ, widely or not, from our own. Our goal is to change the climate of debate, to reintroduce reason, responsibility, and respect for all. Hoping to reshape our process of advocacy, across the cultural and political divides. We seek respectful dialogue between those who disagree on divisive issues.

We are confident that this will result in broad support for well-crafted policies that are essential to human dignity and a free society. This little pamphlet offers one approach we can use to build societal change needed to create a just, livable, sustainable world.

A side issue for us, is a desire to integrate ethical principles with our advocacy. Yes, an aim to convince others to our point of view. But also, to do so morally, with an ethical bent toward our goals. We will work to defend our personal beliefs while respecting others. The Appendixes will explore some specialized knowledge in listening with ethics, through an academic analysis.

Advancing Values – One Person at a Time

Occasionally, we will be talking to someone who is skeptical about or explicitly hostile to values in which we believe. For now, let’s just call him or her a Skeptical Partner. When we want to engage the Skeptical Partner and see if we can open his or her mind to our ideas, we need a powerful tool. That is what is offered here, a method to advocate for our values through one-on-one dialogue that begins by practicing the Listening Way, which is listening to other people’s points of view and empathizing with their fears. If more people around the country engage in this kind of advocacy, our society can be transformed into one ready to embrace humane social policies at home and constructive engagement in international affairs.

Those practicing the Listening Way are not political activists in the traditional sense, motivated only to bring out supporters and advance a narrow set of political interests. In a commitment to reason and responsibility, we seek to make our society genuinely strong, just, and healthy. We endorse public policies rooted in fundamental values that recognize and celebrate the humanity of all. We believe that a progressive society must embrace these values in order to guarantee the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all its members.