[Oe List ...] Deep culture behind our debate on health care reform
Elizabeth Caperton
ecaperton at bellsouth.net
Thu Sep 3 12:40:53 CDT 2009
Marshall Rosenberg's work is amazing and deeply healing. I have
attended two of his workshops and he has much to share about peaceful
resolutions to conflict, prison reform and education. I highly
recommend his work.
On Sep 3, 2009, at 1:23 PM, Janice Ulangca wrote:
Interesting, Jim - rings true as I think about conflicts we
experience and hear about. Thanks.
Reminds me of . . .
This summer I led a group in 6 sessions introducing Nonviolent
Communication (NVC). I wanted to explore it, had only read one book
and seen part of a DVD presentation by the founder, Marshall
Rosenberg. So I bought the DVD, had everyone buy the book, and
expected I could muddle through with my ICA method experience. It
was much more than I bargained for - had me spending about 30 hours a
week immersed in other NVC books and figuring how to get the
participants to authentically encounter these strange ideas in
relation to their own experience. We did not publicize widely - just
one pastor and a few friends - but more than 25 showed up. (Thanks
for your patience - I'm now getting to the point.)
Rosenberg has led conflict resolution in many situations - from
couples who had a good marriage except for one argument which had
continued for 39 years - to leaders from warring African tribes. He
also tells of presenting NVC to a group of Palestinian Muslim men in
a mosque in a refugee camp in Bethlehem. A murmur went through the
crowd when people realized he was American. One man stood up and
shouted, "Murderer! Assassin! Child-killer!" Yet when he had
listened to the man (for 20 minutes) and asked him about his
experiences and feelings, the man ended up inviting Rosenberg to his
home for a Ramadan dinner. It strikes me that Rosenberg's approach
is a way to allow people to move beyond the Cognitive and Emotional
pathologies that Jim Wiegel describes. Rosenberg says that his
experience, over more than 20 years, indicates that when warring
parties are each able to express the needs and feelings of the other
- the "enemy" - to the other's satisfaction - "Yes, that is what I am
saying" - that solutions will come. There is quite a bit to this -
but that's the gist.
Marshall Rosenberg's basic book is Nonviolent Communication - A
Language of Life. The 4-session DVD The Basics of Nonviolent
Communication shows him leading a workshop and interacting with a
group in San Francisco on one day. The Center for Nonviolent
Communication, located in Albuquerque, has a web site www.CNVC.org
Janice Ulangca
----- Original Message -----
From: James Wiegel
To: Order Ecumenical Community ; Colleague Dialogue ;
springboard at wedgeblade.net
Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 6:52 AM
Subject: [Oe List ...] Deep culture behind our debate on health care
reform
I can see, from this conversation, how much more is going on in the
health care reform debate, and how much more is being added in, so it
becomes an "argument about everything" . . . and this is among us, a
quite small demographic of people, I think, with a shared history and
a "transestablishment" (facilitative) perspective of brining people
together for consensus, common vision, etc.
In the project I have been helping with re: combining ICA's ToP and
other methods for use in the Israeli - Palestinian conflict, one of
the project partners talks about 3 levels of a conflict: conflict
over resources, conflict over goals, conflict over identities. Their
insight is that once a conflict becomes about identity, there is
something non negotiable that enters in to the conversation.
Another of the project partners talks about elements of the "deep
culture" that fuel conflict -- a "cognitive pathology" and an
"emotional pathology" (see below)
Deep Cultures often have elements which are counterproductive for
peace. Two syndromes in particular can generally be identified. There
is a cognitive pathology in Deep Culture which affects how a society
thinks and analyses a conflict. There is also an Emotional pathology
which strongly affect attitudes.
The Cognitive syndrome, DMA for short, is centered on Dichotomy
(reducing the conflict to 2 conflict parties only)i, Manichaeism
(where one side is “Good” and one side is “Evil”) and Armageddon
(that there will be a final and inevitable battle in which Good
decisively destroys Evil).
The Emotional syndrome, CGT for short, is centered on Chosenness (the
belief that a group of people have been chosen by transcendental
forces or history for a political mission), Glory (the myths of past
and future glory, underscoring their Chosenness), and Trauma (the
experience of past injuries and defeats, underscoring the need to
pursue their Mission).
iWe reinforce this syndrome when we call the “Israeli – Palestinian”
identities into the room
Jim
Coincidence is the spiritual equivalent of a pun. G. K. Chesterton
Jim Wiegel
401 North Beverly Way, Tolleson, Arizona 85353-2401
+1 623-936-8671 +1 623-363-3277
jfwiegel at yahoo.com www.partnersinparticipation.com
--- On Wed, 9/2/09, jonzondo at juno.com <jonzondo at juno.com> wrote:
From: jonzondo at juno.com <jonzondo at juno.com>
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] More about the definitions of Liberal and
Conservati ve
To: oe at wedgeblade.net
Date: Wednesday, September 2, 2009, 11:15 PM
1)Most conservatives I know support Diebold voting machines. Some
make money off of them. And in Washington State, there was
conservative resistance to a paper trail.
2) The elections of 2000 and 2004 and the lack of interest in
counting every vote.
3) Discussions with my conservative relatives.
4) "Illegal" Phone calls made in several states to my friends of
different ethnicities giving false information about the 2008
election, all in an effort to reduce the number of people voting for
Obama.
I hope that all people are ready for fair clean elections. That will
be a blessing.
Jon Elizondo
You've got to be kidding! Where could you possibly have come up with
the idea that conservatives oppose fair clean elections and open
government?
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You've got to be kidding! Where could you possibly have come up with
the idea that conservatives oppose fair clean elections and open
government? Part of the huge problem with Obama is that he promised
transparency and hasn't practiced it. And can you possibly know
about Acorn and think the Democrats are all about clean electins?
Conservatives support everything on your list. They just don't
support distortion and manipulation of all those issues.
Susan
From: oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On
Behalf Of Dave Thomas
Sent: Wednesday, September 02, 2009 8:49 PM
To: 'Order Ecumenical Community'
Subject: [Oe List ...] More about the definitions of Liberal and
Conservative
Learn more about Liberals and the types of Conservatives (Traditional
Conservatives, Libertarians, Christian Conservatives and Neo-
Conservatives) who oppose them at http://www.pugetsoundliberals.org/
bootcamp/05AboutLiberals.htm
Also note our Liberal Priorities, which Conservatives consistently
oppose:
· Fair Clean Elections and Open Government
· Fair Taxes and Competent Spending
· Investment for Productivity
· Quality Health, Education, Jobs, Income
· Environmental Protection and Energy Independence
· Security and Equal Rights
· Justice and Peace Everywhere
· International Cooperation and Leadership
Conservatives oppose all of these Dave Thomas
From: oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On
Behalf Of ed feldmanis
Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2009 7:59 PM
To: oe at wedgeblade.net
Subject: [Oe List ...] What do we mean by a right? To Jim,
Dave,et.al. re: Conservativism
Jim,
The most eloquent modern day description that I have seen is in the
book Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater.
I have to agree with Dave as far as his description goes. Here is
where I found the problem, at least for me: Conservatives may give
lip service to these values, but they intolerantly restrict the
freedoms and opportunities they would offer people different from
themselves, often valuing the freedom of businesses more than the
freedom of individuals.
I find that statement in general to be devastatingly true and
possibly un-American. However, I don't agree that every conservative
is merely giving lip service. My own impression is that Barry
Goldwater was very sincere and specific in his book. At the point of
writing the book, in my opinion, there was some sense in that folks
still wanted to make America work for everybody and they thought they
had more common ground than there is today.
For a while it, the Goldwater book, was the standard of what a
conservative was. Conservativism was tied to merit, learning,
service, pay as you go spending, and the wide spread use of
incentives before deciding to create an agency; and, by the way,
there was some sense of what is called state-craft. If pushed beyond
Goldwater to Teddy Roosevelt it was also tied to conservation. I
think in my time this is as close to having a dynamic -
conservativism- defined in some stability. (Notice some of the
liberalism inherent in the above description.)
Where I really disagree is where many people simply call the new
crowd conservatives; for example, the crowd now in power and mostly
Southerners and their business conspirators. The label, I think, in
this case, is a cop out for the sake of convenience. In my mind, I
can not get the label of conservative to stick on extremists or
people who have neo-fascist ideas. These are the same people who
called Goldwater a liberal. And they are the so-called conservatives
of our day. I don't buy it, but the press and then everyone else
seems to.
Ed
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