Blocks from a Hard Rock Cafe and nestled between graffitied buildings, the ruins of the Stoa Poikile sit, crumbling and nearly overtaken by greenery. Millennia before American brands dotted the streets of Athens, these ruins had served as the lecture hall for Zeno of Citium, the founder of an ancient philosophy called Stoicism. 

From the Center

This viewpoint is from a writer rated Center.

In the United States today, politics seems to be less about governing and more about finding the best way to demean the other side. The result: a partisan divide and an epidemic of affective polarization.

Updated October 2022

From the Center

This viewpoint is from a writer rated Center.

From the Center

This viewpoint is from a writer rated Center.

How can I depolarize myself? How can I depolarize others in my network?

I searched across the web for thought leaders who can help answer these questions. The links below are all from early 2021.

Some links are nearly entirely personal, like how to avoid falling into cognitive traps that can lead to polarization.

How can America depolarize?

I searched across the web for thought leaders who can help answer this question. The links below are all from early 2021.

The topics vary widely. There is a proposal for a new civics education. Some articles draw on social science research, such as learnings from other societies that have experienced conflict.

Other topics include a new documentary attempting to bridge divides, efforts to reduce divides on college campuses, the impacts of political marketing, cancel culture in academia, and how social media can be fixed.

A recent Gallup survey found that 63% of Americans were at least somewhat dissatisfied with the availability of affordable healthcare. Studies from other research organizations indicate that Americans from across the political spectrum think government healthcare plans should be improved.

In our increasingly polarized age, it has become commonplace to attribute our political opponents’ beliefs to their irrationality. Advancements in psychology seem to validate this view: we are prone to confirmation bias, engage in motivated reasoning, and become self-insulated in social media information bubbles and echo chambers, etc.

U.S. Congress will consider a $15 minimum wage for the second time soon. Joe Biden and most congressional Democrats want to more than double the minimum hourly wage from its current level of $7.25. Although Democrats have this policy goal, survey data (see below) show that the majority of Republican voters actually support raising the minimum wage as well, just not to a level as high as $15.