Essential Partners reposted this
Much of the work we’re doing with our students in collaboration with Essential Partners centers in the idea of building connections through our work with dialogic programming. I appreciate Menendia’s reflection regarding free speech and placing the emphasis in our ability to listen to one another. Simply put, “If you feel heard and understood, even if you disagree with the person, there will be some baseline foundation for connection there,” Menendian said. “If people feel tightly knit, and they feel a sense of community, even if they disagree on the issues, it won’t become problematic.”
“The deeper purpose of speech is not to weed out bad ideas or surface the best ideas, but it is to lead to deeper understanding,” says Stephen Menendian of Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley. Much of the conversation about free speech in 2024 focuses on the boundaries of expression, but Menendian argues we need to flip our focus and instead pay attention to how we receive what is being said. In other words, how we listen. “The right to protest or the right to speak means very little if you’re not actually heard,” said Menendian, who is the institute’s assistant director and director of research. Menendian, who has researched structural racism, civil rights and other forms of inequality for over 25 years, has thought deeply about the role that listening plays in resolving social conflict. In his view, freedom of speech requires “reciprocity,” or the act of understanding and respecting the fundamental humanity of a person who is engaging in expression. That conversation, full of listening and empathy, can build a foundation of trust — Menendian calls it psychological proximity — that allows for expression and connection without dehumanization. That trust, in turn, can lay the groundwork for change. 🔗 Full story on Berkeley News: https://lnkd.in/g-zkb6k6 #UCBerkeley #FreeSpeech