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Drained by MAGA talks with family? Try reflective listening and structured dialogue. (with poll) [1]
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Date: 2025-01-13
Empathy Circle Café. Join us on Zoom every Thursday at 6PM PT for an opportunity to be heard and understood.
This is an Open Thread. How are you doing? What is on your mind. If you are new to Street Prophets please introduce yourself below in a comment below. Today's Coffee Hour is brought to you by reflective listening.
The poll question is: How many MAGA believers have you stopped talking to?
I think the trend of cutting oneself off from MAGA individuals plays into the warfare plans of the enemies of Democracy. And today beyond the fold I want to propose a simple idea on how to relate to MAGA folks.
In addition I’m going to discuss a bit about my plans for building a culture of empathy locally by reaching out to local bay area churches to host Empathy Circle Cafés at their facilities.
What is for dinner? How are you doing? What is on your mind. If you are new to Street Prophets please introduce yourself below in a comment.
This article is continued after the fold and community links
The simple prescription is to reflect. Not to judge. Not to dismiss. Not to argue. Not to submit. And do not just cut off or run away. Just start reflecting. This is the only way to meaningfully sustain a relationship with MAGA believers. And that is a overwhelming hard task.
We must realize that almost half the United States population is being programed with false information and it is human nature for them to repeat it over and over again without thought or fact checking. Reflective listening gives one a “script” to sustain the interaction until a point of authentic human connection can be found. And, if none is found on the first try then one can always try again. The script is simply reflecting.
Clearly, progress in building a relationship with MAGA believers is not just performing a few reflections. It is dependent on multiple encounters built over time. And the point is to establish authenticity. And you build that by listening to MAGA believers and respectfully reflecting.
Reflective listening is a communication strategy used to better understand a speaker's idea by offering your understanding of their idea back to the speaker in order to confirm that the idea has been understood correctly. It is a more specific strategy than general methods of active listening. Wikipedia: Reflective Listening
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/1/13/2296585/-Drained-by-MAGA-talks-with-family-Try-reflective-listening-and-structured-dialogue-with-poll
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