LOVE YOUR ENEMIES: HOW DECENT PEOPLE CAN SAVE AMERICA FROM THE CULTURE OF CONTEMPT by Arthur C. Brooks (Broadside Books, March 2019) Hardcover, 256 pages.
ISBN #0062883755 (ISBN13: 9780062883759)
Summary from the Goodreads website . . . . .
Now a National Bestseller.
To get ahead today, you have to be a jerk, right?
Divisive politicians. Screaming heads on television. Angry campus activists. Twitter trolls. Today in America, there is an “outrage industrial complex” that prospers by setting American against American.
Meanwhile, one in six Americans have stopped talking to close friends and family members over politics. Millions are organizing their social lives and curating their news and information to avoid hearing viewpoints differing from their own. Ideological polarization is at higher levels than at any time since the Civil War.
America has developed a “culture of contempt”—a habit of seeing people who disagree with us not as merely incorrect or misguided, but as worthless. Maybe you dislike it—more than nine out of ten Americans say they are tired of how divided we have become as a country. But hey, either you play along, or you’ll be left behind, right?
Wrong.
In Love Your Enemies, New York Times bestselling author and social scientist Arthur C. Brooks shows that treating others with contempt and out-outraging the other side is not a formula for lasting success. Blending cutting-edge behavioral research, ancient wisdom, and a decade of experience leading one of America’s top policy think tanks, Love Your Enemies offers a new way to lead based not on attacking others, but on bridging national divides and mending personal relationships.
Brooks’ prescriptions are unconventional. To bring America together, he argues, we shouldn’t try to agree more. There is no need for mushy moderation, because disagreement is the secret to excellence. Civility and tolerance shouldn’t be our goals, because they are hopelessly low standards. And our feelings toward our foes are irrelevant; what matters is how we choose to act.
Love Your Enemies is not just a guide to being a better person. It offers a clear strategy for victory for a new generation of leaders. It is a rallying cry for people hoping for a new era of American progress. And most of all, it is a roadmap to arrive at the happiness that comes when we choose to love one another, despite our differences.
My review on the Goodreads website . . . .
In clear prose based on social science and research, Brooks details the how and why of the current confrontational demonization of the opposition that is crippling American politics and preventing both parties of Congress from meeting at the table to get anything accomplished.
"Political differences are ripping our country apart, rendering my big, fancy policy ideas largely superfluous. Political scientists find that our nation is more polarized than it has been at any time since the Civil War. This is especially true among partisan elites - - leaders who, instead of bringing us together, depict our differences in unbridgeable, apocalyptic terms."
It's too easy to get caught up in the fever, regardless of which side of the fence you stand beside. Nobody wants to discuss issues anymore - - and that's what needs to happen to make effective changes and create policies that actually benefit citizens.
We'd all be better off if every single politician read this book and took the message to heart. We'd all be better off if every single person who'll vote in the next election will read this before deciding who they want to support.
Brooks boils it down to five simple rules for readers to remember who are sick of this crap, and want to help change our nation and be part of the movement of change.
1) Stand up to the Man. Refuse to be used by the powerful.
2) Escape the bubble. Go where you're not invited, and say things people don't expect. (Seek out what those on the other side have to say. Consider diverse viewpoints.)
3)Say no to contempt. Treat others with love and respect, even when it's difficult.
4) Disagree better. Be part of a healthy competition of ideas.
5) Tune out: Disconnect more from the unproductive debates.
I'll be voting for the candidate in the upcoming primary election who embodies these ideas the best. And, I'll be voting for the candidate in the next presidential election who also embodies these ideas he best.
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