[Leftie Filter] Help me discuss contentious issues better

November 9, 2016 5:21 PM

Please point me to resources that help make socially progressive points by addressing the values one is likely to encounter from those that oppose those progressive positions. Example below the fold...

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre here in Australia has put together a report that provides research on "words that work and that change the debate around people seeking asylum."

They claim "the research shows what language is most effective in persuading the bulk of Australians to shift their ideas on people seeking asylum."

You can read it for concret examples here: ASRC Messaging Research Project.

Are there other examples relating to other issues?

posted by man down under to Society & Culture (3 answers total)

Best answer: What you're looking for is pretty much the whole reason The Opportunity Agenda exists. The focus is on American issues, but I think their framework for how to talk about progressive issues using (hopefully) universal values is useful in any country.
posted by snaw at 5:29 PM on November 9, 2016 [3 favorites]

Best answer: I will refer you to this Fantastic reply to an older Ask.

Plus:
I will recommend books about negotiating. "Getting to Yes" is short and research based. "The mind and heart of the negotiator" (Leigh Thompson) is meatier and also research based. You might be able to find older editions of the second online for free.

They were both required texts for a college class I took on Negotiation and Conflict Management.
posted by Michele in California at 12:08 PM on November 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Of the techniques I've seen, Marshall Rosenberg's Non-Violent Communication is the most eye-opening and effective. It applies not just to conflict-laden conversations but to all forms of personal communication. Its main value is empathy. Two quotes from him stand out as core teachings: "All criticism is a tragic manifestation of an unmet need", "The greatest intelligence is to observe without judgment" and "Labeling and diagnosis is a catastrophic way to communicate. Telling other people what's wrong with them greatly reduces, almost to zero, the probability that we're going to get what we're after."

Non-Violent Communication: A Language of Life.
posted by storybored at 2:26 PM on November 10, 2016 [2 favorites]