From Demonization to Dialogue: Steps to a New Skill Revolution

We've gone about as far as we can go with the culture of demonization and dualistic thinking – with the Great Satan against the Axis of Evil, the reds against the blues, the Techies against the Luddites. We are practicing, on a global scale, habits of language and interaction that are limited, pre-primitive and socially dysfunctional. The time has come to take a close look at this, think about the realistic possibilities of progress toward a culture based on dialogue instead of demonization, and move decisively in that direction.

Some steps are already being taken: Many early societies had ways to interact productively across lines of difference – to communicate with others, creatively imagine alternatives, and deal with problems. Today, building on those ancient traditions, psychologists, educators and organizational practitioners are developing a new art and science of dialogue. We are now ready for something that has never happened before – a worldwide, ongoing, multi-voiced conversation about the quality of human communication, and the real possibilities of change. A dialogue about dialogue.

The prospects for such a development are dramatically improved by the ongoing revolution in information-communications,technologies,as more and more people gain access to telephones and computers and instant translation systems. This will require overcoming another kind of dualistic thinking: technological progress alone is not going to raise the level of human interaction, and it will take a long time for the skills of dialogue to seep out into the wider world if it happens only in face-to-face interactions. The great promise of the 21st century is that, by creatively bridging the gap between the cultures of science and the humanities, we can bring about a collective move to a higher stage of mental functioning.

Bio: President, World Academy of Art and Science Fellow, International Leadership Forum, La Jolla, CA Fellow and Vice President, The Meridian International Institute, San Francisco/Ottawa

Books

Beyond the Politics of Demonization (in progress) All Connected Now: Life in the First Global Civilization The Next Enlightenment

E ducation

Ph.D., Political Science and Social Psychology, University of Southern California

M. A., Political Science, California State University , Northridge

B. A., Political Science, University of California , Berkeley