Parent (Previous) Guide Folders
Constructive Conflict Guide >
Civic Knowledge and Skills That We All Need to Constructively Handle Intractable Conflict >
Overcoming Hyper-Polarization, Escalation, and the Forces of Disintegration
______________________

Rumor Control and Crisis Response

BI Article
Rumor Control
Rumors spread quickly in escalated conflicts. Here are strategies to slow or stop this process.

BI Article
Mark Gerzon and Mesa Sebree -- Towards a Polycrisis Consciousness - Part 1
Gerzon and Sebree explain what the "polycrisis" is, and ten of the individual crises that interact to create it. In part 2, they will explain what can be done to constructively address this unprecedented challenge to human well being, even survival.

BI Article
Mark Gerzon and Mesa Sebree -- Towards a Polycrisis Consciousness - Part 2
To address the polycrisis, it is necessary to "focus on part of the polycrisis but with an awareness of the whole." Among Gerzon and Sebree's several insightful suggestions: forget optimism and pessimism, focusing instead on "possibility."

News and Opinion
An Expert on Political Violence Sees a Way Out of America's Crisis
An interview with Rachel Kleinfeld outlining her concrete suggestions for limiting political violence.

Related Folders
Crisis-Related Time and Information Pressures
When a crisis occurs, decisions about how to respond have to be made quickly, often on the basis of incorrect or incomplete information. These pressures often cause people to do things that make the situation worse, not better.

Related Folders
Crisis Responders
Crisis Responders act quickly to prevent or contain violent (or sometimes just especially hateful and destructive) confrontations.  Their focus may be on preventing eminent violence, bringing an end to ongoing violence, or preventing violence from reemerging (or all of the above.)

Colleague Activities
The Next New Normals - In General
A post on Indisputably.org, looking at the immediate and longer-term impacts of Covid-19.

Colleague Activities
Catholic Peacebuilding in Times of Crisis
Vol. 12:2 of the Journal of Moral Theology featuring original articles coming out of the the Catholoic Peacebuilding Network's summer 2022 conference .

Colleague Activities
How Does the CRS Control Rumors
Excerpts from interviews of former CRS Conciliators from the Civil Rights Oral History Project

Colleague Activities
America Must Face Its Civic Crisis
Politics is no longer a space for civic inquiry, argument, and creativity, but a place where civic hope goes to die. But it's not dead yet. Everyday Americans are demonstrating how a little civic hope can ignite a chain reaction to build more.

Colleague Activities
Violence Prevention: Understanding the Quiet but Critical Role of 'Civic Diplomats'
This short guidance note highlights the importance of secret and confidential actions and initiatives in preventing political violence and overcoming situations of conflict and crisis.

Colleague Activities
In times of crisis we need more people power --- mass trainings are the key
For movements trying to harness the energy that emerges during political upheavals, mass training provides a crucial means to develop leadership and bring in new participants.

News and Opinion
As Newsrooms Close Across the Country, Remembering Why They Matter
Local newsrooms are one of our best defenses against dangerous and divisive rumors. We need to find a way to preserve them.

News and Opinion
What Happens When a Cascade of Crises Collide?
A quick summary of the ideas behind an important new word -- the polycrisis.

News and Opinion
The U.S. Is the Most Troubled Nation, Except for All the Others
Complex social systems never function very well -- they continually muddle from crisis to crisis. While we need to work harder to address each crisis, we also need to put those crises in perspective.

News and Opinion
Our Solution to the Crisis of Democracy
A report on another big picture look at the problems facing democracy and the things that ought to be a done to address those problems.