Archive - Defusing American Anger: A depolarization endeavor

To avoid destruction, we must own our role in political polarization

Some thoughts before the election

Nov 5 •

October 2024

Did Trump say he'd use the military against opponents? Or did he not?

Conflict makes us more biased, and our bias in turn amplifies the conflict

Oct 23 •

We can be drawn to distrusting elections when "our side" loses

More polarization, more election distrust

Oct 8 •

A criticism of instincts to "go low" when combating political opponents

Democratic political operatives seem increasingly drawn to Trump-like approaches

Oct 1 •

September 2024

Many people hugely overstate Americans' support for political violence — and it's frustrating

A talk with polarization researcher Sean Westwood

Sep 16 •

August 2024

Cynical interpretations of our adversaries' actions can amplify divides — and help our adversaries

Interpretations of Trump's "You won't have to vote anymore" statement

Aug 23 •

Making mistakes about our opponents' hostile intent

Excerpt from "Causes of War" by Levy and Thompson

Aug 20 •

Biden said he wanted to bring Americans together — why didn't he?

An op-ed on Biden's polarizing approaches, and what we can learn from that

Aug 9 •

Warlike "one side will win" framings of our divides

On Alito's recent controversial statement, and similar framings on the left

Aug 3 •

July 2024

To better understand polarized reactions to Trump's shooting, imagine Biden being shot

A "turnabout test" can help us see emotional biases in our thinking

Jul 15 •

June 2024

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