Leo Bottary argues against the old rule to avoid politics and religion in conversation. He says open dialogue about these topics builds empathy and understanding, if you listen to learn rather than to win.
Hi, this is Leo Buttari with the What Anyone Can Do Minute. I'm going to start actually by asking you a question. How many of you had parents who basically gave you the advice to never talk about politics and religion, particularly in social settings with anyone, right? Because of whatever turmoil that was going to cause. You know, as I reflect on that advice today, while I at some level understand why it was given. I'm not sure it was great advice. And the reason is, is I feel like today, wouldn't it be great if we could actually have conversations about politics and religion so that I could really understand where someone's political views have come from? How did they evolve? How did they emerge? Why do they see the world the way they do? In the same way, we might be able to explore faith in someone's life. Imagine if we could develop that kind of understanding with one another and we weren't set up for a conflict or a fight, every time we had conversations like that, or by the way, across many other subject areas that seems to fall in that category. So with that, let's see if we can't listen for a little more understanding.
