FVO XIII: “I Already Discuss Politics In My Own Way”*

The last Frequently Voiced Objection to participating in civil discussion is not so much mistaken or misguided but limited.

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Political discussions come in a lot of “flavors.” There are a lot of models, approaches, and processes out there from which to choose. I’ve been involved in some already and I was pretty happy with how they went. Why would I want to try changing them?

Not changing them, perhaps, but complementing them.  It is certainly true that there are many approaches to civil discussion (see my 1/8/2018 blog “A Catalogue of Civil Discussion Types”).  While we’re not familiar with the details of all of them, we believe that, in general, if they qualify as “civil”, they’re worth the time.  To use a religious comparison, we’re “ecumenical” when it comes to civil discussion.

At EnCiv we also believe that most discussion processes can easily be wed to other approaches.  Exploratory discussion, for example is the natural precursor to deliberative discussion.  So even when your group, organization, or agency already employs one form of discussion, it can benefit from others.  Then too, the more you engage in discussion, the more you stand to gain from it—and the more your discussion skills will improve.  That’s one of the main motives for creating EnCiv in the first place: to provide multiple kinds of discussion and plenty of opportunities to use them.

*Adapted from Adolf G. Gundersen and Suzanne Goodney Lea, Let’s Talk Politics: Restoring Civility Through Exploratory Discussion, Chapter 3.