My gift to you — tips to calm polarization in 2025 – San Diego Union-Tribune

When the Merriam-Webster dictionary announced its 2024 word of the year — “polarization” — our team at the National Center for Conflict Resolution was not surprised. After all, it’s been a busy year for us: US companies, universities and nonprofits have been reaching out, looking for tools and strategies to navigate deepening polarization.

The presidential elections of 2024 have only amplified the phenomenon of polarization. As Anna Furman of the Associated Press wrote, many Americans went to the polls fearing the opposing candidate. According to AP VoteCast (a survey of more than 120,000 voters), about 8 in 10 Kamala Harris voters were somewhat or very concerned about Donald Trump’s views being too extreme; 7 in 10 Trump voters felt the same way about Harris.

Merriam-Webster chooses its word of the year based on page views, tracking search and usage growth. She defines polarization as “the division into two clearly distinct opposites; especially, a state in which the opinions, beliefs, or interests of a group or society no longer vary along a continuum, but are concentrated at opposite extremes.”

Historian Heather Cox Richardson wrote last week about the use of polarization as a political tool. In 1970, she said, the Republican Party was concerned about voter sentiment following President Richard Nixon’s decision to send ground troops to Cambodia rather than end the Vietnam War.

In the protests that followed, members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd at Kent State University, killing four people. According to Cox Richardson, Nixon lost support among white middle-class Americans—a key demographic—when he claimed that protesters were responsible for the shooting. To get the vote for Nixon, his advisers used a strategy they called “positive polarization,” calling opponents “lazy, dangerous, and un-American” and stirring up anger.

We must not give in to the idea of ​​polarization. It is not inevitable, historical precedent aside. Each of us has the power to change the dynamic by changing how we act – even just a little. Polarization only works when there are enough willing participants.

So here’s my gift to you – five ways you can contribute to a less polarized 2025:

Demonstrate “conversational responsiveness.” Scientific American coined the phrase to mean the extent to which people who disagree communicate their desire to engage with one another. It means using language that signals your genuine interest in another’s perspective. Instead of trying to score points or change their minds, seek understanding. (Perhaps ironically, when you seem more receptive in conversation, you’re actually more persuasive, as parents of teenagers know.)

Check your bias. Polarization is fueled by biases, which limit our thinking. Strongly held beliefs about people on the “other side” are often wrong. When you overestimate the differences—and conclude that your side is better than the other—you’re only adding to the toxic stew, perhaps without even realizing it. On the flip side of the bias coin, we naturally favor people who are like us and believe in their perspectives. It may be comfortable, but it is imperfect because each of us is multidimensional.

Remember our common humanity. In disagreement, you can find compromise and common ground – even if they seem elusive to begin with. (This premise has been at the heart of the mediation work we’ve been doing at NCRC for more than 40 years.) Humility also helps. I recall my conversation a few years ago with bestselling author and Harvard professor Arthur Brooks after the publication of his book Love Your Enemies. He spoke of our “culture of contempt” – the habit of seeing people who disagree with us as worthless and flawed, not just wrong. Thinking “more alike than different” can reduce polarization.

Reduce your social media habit. Social media has become an accelerator of polarization – mostly through its ability to stir up animosity between people who disagree politically. As Christian Staal Bruun Overgaard and Samuel Woolley of the Brookings Institution have written, this “affective” polarization, as it’s called, “threatens to undermine democracy itself” and underlies partisan differences on everything from vaccination policy to changes climatic. The average American over the age of 16 spends two hours a day on social media, but half of us feel pressed for time. Curbing your habit socialization has double benefits.

Get out of your bubble. These tips only contribute to change if you choose to interact with people whose core beliefs and values ​​differ from your own. Lean into disagreement, which is part of our social fabric. In 2025, resolve to engage with people who think differently before the fear of holiday gatherings sets in again.

The word of the year is a sign of our times. My wish for the country is less polarization and more “w00t”, the 2007 word of the year. It is an expression of joy.

Steven P. Dinkin is president of the National Center for Conflict Resolution (NCRC), a San Diego-based organization that works to create innovative solutions to challenging problems, including intolerance and incivility. To learn about NCRC programming, visit www.ncrconline.com.

Originally published: December 29, 2024 at 5:00 AM PST