Stuck in the Past & Differing Perspectives
I wholeheartedly believe we can reduce violence and killing in our world, but we are not doing everything we can to achieve that goal.
That’s partly because the discussions we are having about public safety, violent crime, and gun ownership are stuck in the past.
We often retreat to online echo chambers, falling victim to confirmation bias by surrounding ourselves and interacting with people who think just like we do.
As a result, these battles around increasingly pressing challenges become the intellectual equivalent of trench warfare: dig in, don’t move, fight for your side, and yell more angrily at the opposing side.
Neither yelling long-held beliefs more emphatically nor denigrating those with opposing views will move us closer to a safer world for all.
Rather, we should aim to explore outside our echo chambers and engage in meaningful discussion with people who think differently from us.
My book, The End of Killing, discusses this and much more from a few differing perspectives.
