CHICAGO — Dr. Alison Dagnes, an expert on political polarization and a professor at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania joined WGN Weekend Morning News to talk about polarization coming out of the election.
Dagnes has tips for navigating politics around the holidays:
1. We have to unplug from the constant flood of news and information: Unless you are Ron Klain, you do not need to be updated on every development of the transition. Push back from the computer, take the push-alerts off your phone, and watch a holiday movie instead.
2. When on media, don’t take the click bait that is rampant and profitable for a few but hazardous to many.
3. We have to start talking and listening to people who may disagree with us on some issues, but those with whom we still share some commonalities. The truth is that we are more alike than different, and if we stop disliking each other because of our politics, we can find common ground (I actually created an event here on campus called “Political Speed Dating” where kids sat across from people who self-identified as ideologically different and talked about what they had in common, as opposed to what they would fight about. The whole point is that we are spending too much time wrapping out politics around us, and that’s not a great way to live. And I’m a political scientist.
