Are we polarized? Or just isolated, disoriented and reacting with 'flight or fight' responses? New report argues the latter - Entrepreneur Generations

Rich Harwood discussed his "civic virus" theory on "Meet the Press Daily" with Chuck Todd Feb. 15.

It's become conventional wisdom that American society has become polarized, politically and culturally, but is that the whole truth? Richard C. Harwood, whose business is helping communities improve their civic life, doesn't think so; he explains his view in a new report, Civic Virus: Why Polarization Is a Misdiagnosis, from his Harwood Institute for Public Innovation and the Kettering Foundation.

Harwood says polarization is a misguided assumption. Instead, he says, we are isolated, disoriented, and reacting with "fight or flight" responses. He bases this on 16 in-depth focus groups he held across the country, asking these questions: How do people describe the nation today? Who are the individuals, groups, institutions, or leaders whom people believe and trust? Where do people get their information and news about what’s happening around them and in the larger world? What community actions did people see in response to Covid-19, and what, if any, lessons might these hold for the country moving forward? And what does it mean to be an American?

The report on these conversations offers some thoughts on how to combat what Harwood calls "the civic virus" and inoculate the nation moving forward. To download a free copy, click here.

The Kettering Foundation notes that the report was featured Feb. 15 on MSNBC's "Meet the Press Daily" with Chuck Todd, who discussed it with Harwood. To watch that segment, click here.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/4gD2WZy Are we polarized? Or just isolated, disoriented and reacting with 'flight or fight' responses? New report argues the latter - Entrepreneur Generations

Posted by Entrepreneur Generations

Tweet