Recent BI and Substack Posts

 Though risky, escalation is riskier! Conciliatory gestures can turn escalation around. 

Responding to hate with hate is like pouring gasoline on a fire...you are likely to get burned!

Hate, no matter how "justified" hurts us more than it helps us. Don't do it!

If you collaborate with "your enemy" against escalation and "divide & conquerors"--you both can win! 

Social media is driving our conflicts--real HUMAN relationships can change that. 

Thi post explains what Constructive Confrontation is and why we need it.

Fights cost lots and may be lost! If you can live and let live, it is often much better for all.

If we dig below positions, we often can collaborate with "our enemies" to the benefit of all.

Even ifyou think you know what the other side thinks, you likely don't--and they don't know you either.

Alone we can do a little bit, but with others we can accomplish much more. Collaboration works!

Respect is free to give, yet its payback is huge: breaking down stereotypes and often earning respect in return.

Hate begets hate, fear, anger, and eventually violence. Don't fall into the trap! And if you are in, climb out!

More ideas for spanning the left/right divide: the win-win pursuit of social equity, multi-multi-culturalism, and more.

How might the super-rich be persuaded to do the right thing? How might the cosmopolitan elite better earn the public's support and trust?

Find out about building a "conflict mirror" (so you can understand why you make others so mad) other constructive conflict strategies.

Find out how you can combat the destructive conflict dynamics that are making the left/right divide so intractable.

The first key to saving democracy is to understand how that differs from simply trying to advance partisan objectives.

A complexity-based approach to strengthening democracy and avoiding authoritarian populism

Today's most serious conflicts are, in large part, being engineered by those who seek power over the rest of the society.

Democracy depends on separating the authoritarian/plutocratic threat from left/right cultural and distributional conflicts.

The widely misunderstood complexity of "who gets what" distributional conflicts explains much of our inequality problem.

The evolutionary, neurobiological foundation of the cultural divide requires approaching it with mutual tolerance and respect.

Like the proverbial frog in hot water, democracies have been sliding toward authoritarianism with too few people recognizing the danger.

Meeting the challenge of authoritarian populism will require a sophisticated understanding of "who is fighting who over what."

Find out what you can do to strengthen democracy while reducing the risk of authoritarianism.