In a time of anger, deep divisions, and even political violence, how do we begin to depolarize America?

What's our own personal role in finding common ground? Are there practical steps that all of us can take?

We seek some answers in this episode.

Welcome to Let's Find Common Ground. I'm Richard Davies.

And I'm Ashley Melntite. The task of bridging divides became much more difficult after the recent insurrection of the US Capitol.

Many of us were appalled and saddened or downright angry, but some Americans viewed the riot as patriots.

So how do we have difficult conversations with those who see the world through a different lens?

We speak with Tanya Israel, a psychologist. She's held workshops and conducted extensive research into how to connect with those you passionately disagree with.

She's a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the author of the book, Beyond Your Bubble. Richard, you get the first question.

The assault or insurrection at the Capitol was an historic event. How do we make sense of what happened?

I think that's a great question. And what seems clear is that different people are making sense of it in different ways.

Because my focus is on dialogue, I think that's one of the questions that we can ask of each other, not just our hot take on what happened and what should be done about it.

But what did that mean to you? What was it like for you on that day when it was unfolding? How did you understand what the events were that were going on?

And how have you reacted to the aftermath?

So ask questions rather than make statements?

Well, I think ask questions and have a dialogue. And when you do talk about it, I hear people talking about, okay, will police respond differently to this than to Black Lives Matter?

I hear people talking about a lot of different angles on what happened. And I think it's fine to share those. It's fine to sort of say, here's what I observed.

I think the thing that's not as helpful to dialogue is to shut other people down with that. If somebody says, well, how is this different from the protesters in Portland who attacked the police?

I think rather than to say, well, that's a false equivalent. Then to say, well, that's a great question. Tell me about how it seemed similar to you.

And, okay, well, here's how that seemed different to me or the other way around. So I think using this really is an opportunity to deepen and understand our relationships with other people and their views on things.

And I'm guessing you would say the same for approaching somebody in our midst or you could be a family member, a friend or a neighbor who we know are sympathetic to the protesters and who may be a quite devoted follower of Donald Trump.

Yes. And one of the things that I've noticed in all of the media and analyses of the polls coming out is people are focusing primarily on Trump supporters who feel like the protesters speak for them.

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