{"id":2481,"date":"2024-05-22T20:46:07","date_gmt":"2024-05-22T20:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buildersmovement.org\/?p=2481"},"modified":"2025-03-11T13:41:03","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T13:41:03","slug":"for-middle-east-protests-and-polarizing-issues-do-we-see-what-expect-to-find","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buildersmovement.org\/2024\/05\/22\/for-middle-east-protests-and-polarizing-issues-do-we-see-what-expect-to-find\/","title":{"rendered":"For Campus Protests (and Other Polarizing Issues), Do We Often See What We Expect To Find?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201c… protests on elite college campuses over Israel\u2019s war in Gaza have boiled over, with hundreds of students arrested or suspended, and clashes between protestors and counter-protestors hitting a fever pitch.\u201d
\n<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u2014 <\/i>Tangle News<\/a>, April 2024<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s our responses to the recent college protests or our stances on other hot-button issues, it\u2019s clear that we often inhabit separate realities. And what\u2019s more, we often think our perspectives are the obviously correct, \u201ccommon sense\u201d ones. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>This mindset can lead us to get angry with people who disagree with us \u2014 and even to have significant contempt for them. Amidst the conflict and the resulting emotions, we forget how easy it is for rational people to arrive at different views. We miss just how common it is for people to have different views of what\u2019s \u201ccommon sense.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To be clear: we <\/span>aren\u2019t<\/span><\/i> saying that objective truth doesn\u2019t exist. We are saying it\u2019s important to recognize <\/span>the ease with which we can disagree<\/span><\/i>, as well as to engage with others with empathy and compassion. And we say this with full awareness that such a request is often difficult when it comes to contentious and emotional topics. <\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Can polarization be rational?\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

Philosopher Kevin Dorst explores what he calls \u201c<\/span>rational polarization<\/span><\/a>\u201d \u2014 the notion that people can still reach vastly different conclusions when interpreting information rationally.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We asked Dorst how this concept applies to people\u2019s views on the Middle East conflict:<\/span><\/p>\n

Polarization tends to be more extreme over topics that 1) are obviously important, 2) have committed constituencies to argue each side, and 3) are complex enough that there are lots of facts pointing in each direction. That gives people the 1) motivation, 2) audience, and 3) evidence to build opposing cases. The debate over Israel\/Palestine is clearly a case in point.<\/span><\/p>\n

On <\/span>his Substack<\/span><\/a>, Dorst writes: \u201cWe seem to be losing our epistemic empathy: our ability to both be convinced that someone is wrong, and yet acknowledge that there are sensible reasons that led them to their opinions.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Again, we\u2019re <\/span>not <\/i><\/b>saying there’s no objective truth or that everyone\u2019s views are equally valid. We’re talking about perceptions: how people interpret the world and people around them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the recent campus protests, it\u2019s possible to see how people can construct different views based on rational and defensible reasoning. There are simply so many different aspects of the Middle East conflict, or of the protests themselves, that one can focus on. (For example, it\u2019s true that many protesters have been peaceful. It\u2019s also true that some protesters have engaged in antisemitic and violent behaviors.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A loss of nuance<\/b><\/h3>\n

When our views become more polarized and judgmental, we risk losing sight of nuance. We start to see things as more black and white. Issues become more one-side-versus-the-other, even though reality is almost always quite complex. We feel pressured to pick a side. Sometimes, even <\/span>the language we use<\/span><\/a> (for example, \u201cpro-Israel\u201d or \u201cpro-Palestine\u201d) can influence us to see only binary and either-or choices.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even as some polarization is rational, it\u2019s also true that as we see an issue in more us-versus-them terms, we\u2019ll tend to embrace more unreasonable and divisive views and behaviors. In other words, <\/span>rational<\/span><\/i> polarization can lead to <\/span>irrational<\/span><\/i> polarization.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As <\/span>Peter T. Coleman writes<\/span><\/a>, \u201cThis is a time when we all feel pulled, in fact required, to take a clear moral stand on the situation, but often this requires us to over-simplify what are terribly messy issues.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

We can be drawn to certainty\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

Taylor Dotson, the author of <\/span>The Divide: How Fanatical Certitude Is Destroying Democracy<\/span><\/i><\/a>, explores how our tendency to believe we\u2019re always right can make conflicts worse. We asked Dotson about how he sees a desire for certitude playing a role in people\u2019s stances on this topic:<\/span><\/p>\n

Protesters search for pithy lines that seem to convey what they view to be self-evident truth. To call Israel\u2019s invasion a genocide is to make it manifestly evil by definition. Referring to the nation as \u201csettler-colonialist\u201d aims to make its purported political and moral illegitimacy beyond dispute.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But it is equally common-sensical to some Jewish people that \u201cfrom the river to the sea\u201d is an antisemitic call for their expulsion from a place they call home, even if many college protestors don\u2019t mean it that way.<\/span><\/p>\n

This way of talking about the Israel-Gaza conflict is suffused with the politics of fanatical certitude. We think by insisting on the \u201cright\u201d way to define the conflict or a concept, a complex problem can be turned into a simple one.<\/span><\/p>\n

But simplifying our problems leads us to oversimplify disagreement. Opponents no longer see the world differently, but suffer from an \u201c-ism.\u201d We see their views as a result of denying common sense, refusing to see the clear reality of Israel\u2019s inhumanity, or the evil of Hamas and widespread antisemitism.<\/span><\/p>\n

To clarify again: we aren\u2019t saying people shouldn\u2019t be passionate about politics or work hard for what they believe in. We also aren\u2019t saying it\u2019s bad to criticize those we see as doing harm.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But if we can do those things while also trying to see the more rational aspects of others\u2019 views, that will help us better engage with others and find workable compromises. Being able and willing to see the more rational concerns others have \u2014 and not just the worst-case <\/span>straw man<\/span><\/a> versions of those concerns \u2014 helps everyone work towards solutions that consider multiple perspectives. This will move us toward peace in a way that focusing on whose position is the most \u201ccommon sense\u201d will not.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Want to read more thoughts about the recent protests? See <\/span><\/i>this piece by Peter T. Coleman<\/span><\/i><\/a>, our expert-in-residence who teaches at Columbia University. <\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Want to receive pieces like this in your inbox? <\/span><\/i>Sign up for our newsletter<\/span><\/i><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201c… protests on elite college campuses over Israel\u2019s war in Gaza have boiled over, with hundreds of students arrested or suspended, and clashes between protestors and counter-protestors hitting a fever pitch.\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u2014 Tangle News, April 2024 Whether it\u2019s our responses to the recent college protests or our stances on other hot-button issues,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":2482,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"collection_feed":[],"type_feed":[77],"class_list":["post-2481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFor Campus Protests (and Other Polarizing Issues), Do We Often See What We Expect To Find? - Builders<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/buildersmovement.org\/2024\/05\/22\/for-middle-east-protests-and-polarizing-issues-do-we-see-what-expect-to-find\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"For Campus Protests (and Other Polarizing Issues), Do We Often See What We Expect To Find? 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