Civil
Political Conversations
Introduction:
Social Psychologist, Robb Willer in his TED Talk, “How to
have better political conversations” published September 2016 addresses the
topic of the political divide in America and argues that it is the worst it has
ever been in anyone’s life. He supports this claim by telling the audience how
divided our political parties are, then explains conservative and liberal moral
values, then discusses a moral study he conducted using various types of
essays, and finally discusses a solution on how our country can come back
together. Willer’s purpose of this TED Talk is to help others have better
conversations when it comes to politics so that we can come back together as a
nation. He adopts a serious tone for his audience, the listeners of “How
to have better political conversations”, and others interested in the
topic of how to understand other political party ideologies and how have reasonable
conversations between those with individuals who have differing beliefs than
their own. Thesis: Willer uses his credibility as a social psychologist to show
the audience conservative and liberal moral values and using movie references
to show how both parties think they are the good guys.
Body Paragraph #1
One of Willer’s main claims is that the United States of
America is more divided now than in the past two decades. He
supports his claim by referencing his own studies, an appeal to both logos and
his own ethos as a social psychologist. In these studies, he continues to show,
how and why both conservatives and liberals drift further and further apart. He
discovered that over the years conservative and liberals tend to have conversations
with only like-minded individuals and those who share the same ideologies as
them. When Willer states, “And I think that most alarming of all of it is
seeing this rising animosity on both sides,” is effective in showing the
audience that this claim can be seen in today’s mainstream media, news outlets,
and social media. In news outlets you can see the animosity between both sides,
but how it is tearing apart families and relationships. When Willer talks about
how in today’s society no one wants to date someone who says the are a
different political party, no one wants
their child/children to date someone who doesn’t have the same political view,
and people generally find those who have a different political opinion less
attractive. This is a very sad statement because no one should be judged on their
opinion or political opinion
Body Paragraph #2
Willer uses movie references to explain to the audience
how divided our country is and who each political party think they are. One
example he uses is that we are in a zombie movie and each party thinks they are
the “Brad Pitt” in this situation, but both parties are more the zombies
instead.
Main Point #1- Studies on
Conservatives and Liberals growing further apart
Conservatives- Loyalty,
Patriotism, Respect for authority, Moral purity
Liberals- Equality,
Fairness, Care, Protection from harm
Essays they read- same
sex-marriage & English as first language
Main Point #2- What kind
of movie we are in
Zombie
Buddy Cop
Main Point #3- Solution
Moral Reframing
How to get left and right
to agree
Kit-Kat 