March 28, 2024

The Danger Zone

It’s hard to talk politics with people you disagree with these days; that hasn’t stopped some people from trying
March 4, 2016


Jill Rahrig set out to create a safe place on Facebook for people who disagree about politics. It was a success in its early months, bringing together diverse people in Traverse City who debated difficult topics. However, in reflection of national politics, things fell apart–debate got heated, a comment was removed and Rahrig closed the group. Today, she is attempting to reinvent the Project for Civic Engagement as a nonprofit devoted to a new kind of politics.

NO ONE WANTS TO SAY THEY ARE WRONG

Rahrig wonders if the root of today’s intransigence might be that people are no longer willing to change their minds. "People publicly find it very difficult to say, "˜You know, what you said really changed my mind and now I’m going to espouse this changed thought,’" she said.

Click on any article about national politics and chances are you will read about two sides that disagree and refuse to compromise. Political debate seems to be at a low point.

John Zachman, Ph.D., political science professor at Northwestern Michigan College, is worried about this development.

"I feel like people might feel like they’re supposed to engage in some debate and discussion, but they don’t authentically believe that they could actually grow from that," Zachman said. "If you’re a liberal democrat, you don’t actually believe that engaging in discussion with smart conservatives could actually get you anywhere."

A CIVILITY PAGE? ON FACEBOOK?

Rahrig hoped her Facebook page would be nonpartisan and respectful.

"It worked pretty well," she said. "It got heated at times, a little bit, but by and large it was way more civil than other blogs or Facebook pages or other things like that."

Jason Gillman, a former Grand Traverse County commissioner and current Republican challenger for the state 104th House of Representatives seat held by Republican Larry Inman, said he’s watched the decline of civility from the perspective of someone who’s been beaten up for his conservative views. Gillman was branded a bigot after he called homosexuals perverse and compared them to child molesters.

"I think that the act is not natural. That’s my opinion and I’m entitled to that opinion," he said. "[The reaction] hurt my feelings like you couldn’t believe, but it also hardened my resolve."

He joined Rahrig’s Facebook group, he said, in the hopes that he could find a civil discussion of politics.

Gillman said that, although he thought the page was dominated by liberals, he appreciated how any topic could be discussed.

"I kind of liked being on that page for a while because it could get intense. You could argue really touchy subjects, like whether someone could refuse service to somebody," he said.

Then, a little more than a year ago, one of his comments was deleted. He quit the group in protest.

A DELETED POST

Rahrig said she had no other choice but to remove the post. Neither Gillman nor Rahrig could recall what the post was about, but Rahrig said she thought it could have been deemed derogatory to someone in the group. Gillman insists he didn’t mount personal attacks.

"It infuriated him and I had never deleted anything ever, but I was so concerned," Rahrig said. "We were trying to have civil discourse; we were trying to dredge through it; we were so much wanting progress in our conversations."

Despite the discord, Rahrig has nice things to say about Gillman.

"He may not have realized how much gasoline he was putting on the fire," she said. "Jason, by and large, I give him a lot of credit for trying to organize the whole very conservative Tea Party part of things. I can work with Jason; he’s got a heart at the end of the day. A lot of people didn’t think he had a heart, but he does."

Gillman said he thought he found common ground with Rahrig.

"I actually gave it a try," Gillman said of meeting with Rahrig before he was kicked off the page. "She came and she talked to me and she seemed perfectly reasonable. I came away from it thinking, Okay, this is someone I can talk to; this is someone I can have a conversation with."

MORE PEOPLE NEED TO BE INVOLVED

Attorney John Di Giacomo doesn’t run a Facebook page devoted to politics, but he does champion civility on social media. On Feb. 16, for example, he challenged his friends:

"Spend 50% of the time that you normally spend complaining about politics on social media by contributing to your local community. You could run for a local office,  seek appointment to a local board or volunteer at a non-profit"¦" Replies were positive. Di Giacomo said his post was a reaction to the polarization that Facebook spawns; people hear what they want to hear over and over again.

"Facebook reminds me of Pandora because Pandora is this beautiful system where you get just what you like," Di Giacomo said. "It becomes this feedback loop and you never stray outside of that."

That reinforces people’s beliefs and makes them more extreme, he said.

"It’s harder to have a conversation with people," he said.

The conversations that do happen seem to be short and people jump into them and jump out of them, a comment here and a comment there.

"There are a small group of people in town who work very hard to get things done, who try to change the climate of local issues," Di Giacomo said. "And then there’s a lot of people who can push the "˜Like’ button on Facebook, and like the fact that people are working really hard on it."

LOCAL ADVANTAGE: BEER

While acrimony in national politics typically pits the left against the right, in local politics, a kaleidoscope of interests seem to collide.

Gary Howe, a city commissioner who has been at the center of some of the most contentious issues in Traverse City in the past couple of years, said he gets an angry, all caps email about once a month.

Howe has been outspoken about Eighth Street’s redesign, the nine-story building debate, Safe Harbor’s permanent homeless shelter proposal, and accessory dwelling units. In these controversies, the arguments between pro and con often mirror national politics in how far apart the sides are, but the politics of the people on each side aren’t as clear.

Despite the diversity of people who have been vocal about those issues, Howe said each time, the opposition has the same rhythm: a slow build that erupts around the time when a decision needs to be made. Whether it’s a property owner worried about what a homeless shelter will do to property values or an environmentalist who believes tall buildings will destroy the city’s character, the emotions are similar.

"I think a lot about why people are resistant to change," he said. "I think that’s a lifelong learning process, to tell you the truth."

Howe said, despite being labeled an enemy by neighbors, he’s enjoying his life in politics. He believes some of the cable news us-against-them mentality influences the local tone, but he suspects it’s always been this impassioned.

The important thing, he said, is that people get together and talk through the issues. "Locally, the advantage is I can have a coffee with them. I can have a beer with them. You can talk about it or email. You can talk about the issues," he said.

ECONOMICS UNDERLIES POLARIZATION

Zachman believes it’s the troubled economy that has pitted neighbor against neighbor. What’s disturbing about what’s happening now, he said, is that people from the right and left have looked at the same problem and come to opposite conclusions.

"A lot of the people that are shouting at each other actually have very similar interests and I feel there’s kind of this undercurrent of anger that drives the whole thing," Zachman said.

At the same time, the power of political parties has weakened.

"In the past, the Republican and Democratic parties had an ability to set the message, to identify and groom and recruit the candidates that would be good for them," he said. "And, you know, the Republican Party right now is just spinning out of control. It’s incredible to watch this election. It’s actually very fascinating, but it’s also very scary."

Scott T. LaDeur, Ph.D., a political science professor at North Central Michigan College (NCMC) in Petoskey, said Democrats and Republicans used to be fractious parties and everybody had to compromise from within to get anything done. That’s no longer the case.

"Now you have these kind of ideologically sorted parties," LaDeur said. "I think the picture gets really skewed when you talk about state and local politics."

LaDeur, who just started teaching at NCMC in the fall, said he doesn’t have a good handle on local politics yet. He said he’s designed a class next fall that will study the state’s 1st Congressional District U.S. House of Representatives campaign as it unfolds, and he hopes to hold a debate on campus.

He said his students, because of their age, tend to be more interested in national politics than local politics, which is somewhat ironic because they would be more likely to have an impact on the local level, if they participated.

A PENDULUM SWINGS

Kent Wood is pretty sure there have always been cycles of some pretty dismal politics throughout American history, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t reached a new low point. Wood said he is concerned that he is seeing that low point seep into local politics.

"You can’t help but look at Washington and notice that there is more of a lack of compromise now," said Wood, director of government relations with the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce.

Wood believes there are ways to improve the conversation.

He said when people of differing opinions get together to discuss issues, it helps people understand one another and it softens the tone. He cited the Grand Vision, a years-long project executed by people from across the region who hammered out a shared plan for how the community should look in the future.

Wood acknowledged the irony of using the Grand Vision as an example of political harmony. Since its completion, the project has been the source of controversy as opponents argue it was a waste of money with no mandate and its conclusions should be ignored. Wood says that the people who argue that are the people who didn’t take part in the discussion.

DEMOCRACY 2.0

Something like the Project for Civic Engagement could offer people of diverse beliefs a forum to get together and find common ground, Wood said, though he is not familiar with the project. He said he believes such projects are better off if they are not based on social media, where conversations too often devolve into arguments.

Rahrig said the focus of her group has changed and the Facebook page is inactive.

"We’re taking a little bit of a pause and going through a bit of a revolution," Rahrig said. "We realized and learned that it would be very helpful if all of the similar-minded organizations in the state of Michigan joined together and had some clear messaging."

Today, Rahrig’s immodest proposal is to transform the tone of American politics.

"What we’re evolving into is to have civic engagement be as interesting and popular as much as we pay attention to what’s going on with sports, what’s going on with the stock market," she said.

She calls it American Representative Democracy 2.0, an upgrade.

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