Episode 22 - Zachary Elwood on the What, Why, and How of Depolarization

“America is deeply divided. We don't just disagree on the issues; we increasingly view people on the ‘other side’ as profoundly immoral and dangerous. This leads to many of us seeing ‘beating the other side’ as taking precedence over everything else. In our anger and fear, we can act in aggressive, unfair, and insulting ways ways — often without being aware of how our behaviors affect our adversaries.

To avoid worst-case scenarios of chaos, dysfunction, and violence, we need more people — from politicians to pundits to everyday citizens — to have a better understanding of how toxic conflict works and how it grows. We need more people to see that much of our contempt and fear is based on distorted, overly pessimistic views of the ‘other side.’ We need more people to see how our overly negative views of each other create a self-reinforcing feedback cycle of conflict.”

That’s from the book jacket of Defusing American Anger: A Guide to Understanding Our Fellow Citizens and Reducing Us-vs-Them Polarization, by Zachary Elwood. Zach is a former professional poker player, the author of three books on poker tells and two books on depolarization, and, in my view, perhaps the most consistent and productive depolarization advocate on Substack today.

In a wide-ranging conversation, Zach and I discussed why the point of depolarization isn’t to argue less, but to argue better, and walked through practical tips for people who want to help depolarize our politics while pushing hard to advocate for their views and expand their coalitions.

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