Tangle
I have a new guilty pleasure and I just have to share it since there are a number of my readers who fall into the middle or independent sector of our national politics. I came across Tangle while listening to a NPR program, I think it was "This American Life" but I'm not positive. In that episode, they were interviewing spouses who grew apart due to our recent political atmosphere and one couple, mentioned that their solution was to both read the same source of political news that they respected, in this case Tangle.
Tangle is Isaac Saul's idea that came to him after searching for unbiased news sources on various political subjects. He would spend so much time looking for opinions on both sides of the political spectrum in order to formulate an opinion based on facts, that he wished there was a one stop place he could go to. There wasn't one and so he created his own.
On his website linked above, one can find almost daily posts with good articles written by authors belonging on both sides of the political spectrum followed by thoughts written by Tangle that sums up everything in a neutral way. One of the best features about the entire site, is that the summary is done in a verbally neutral way without the loaded political terms both sides prefer to use. One of the biggest turnoffs from reading a biased website (or blog post) has always been getting through those loaded terms just to get to the heart of the problem which is what I'm always striving to understand.
The video at the top of this post is a talk Tangle founder Isaac Saul gave at TED talks where he discusses those loaded terms and how important it is to use more neutral language or at least understand what the person using the term is referring to so it doesn't derail the conversation. I'm not one for listening to such things but I was totally fixated on this short 12 minute long video and the points Isaac made.
I also realize that I'm guilty of not using some well thought out phrases that are more neutral at times and hope that in the future, especially when bringing up political subjects, I can do so in a more neutral manner.
His website is free Monday through Thursday but to access it the other days, it requires a low subscription fee. Since I have only read archived posts from the free section, I have not yet paid but from what I have read, it is well worth the price is it continues to be as promised. I plan on reading it regularly these upcoming weeks to give it a chance and then may spend the money to access all the rest of the features I don't currently get access too.
I hope all my readers will give it a chance and perhaps if enough people practice what he is talking about, we can make this world a better place.
It is a worthy concept. Find the facts as best you can before developing your opinion. I would emphasize this to students in a senior class that I taught.
ReplyDeleteI find many people I consider my friends don't do this and thus aren't really informed on what they are trying to argue. I always try to point this out politely when possible but sometimes in many situations, it isn't possible.
DeleteI have always been fascinated by why people believe the way that they do but often times when I ask questions to try to figure that out, it is seen as challenging their belief. I struggle sometimes with coming up with a better way of asking that is not perceived as challenging and I think the above video will help me in this regard.
Thanks for the recommendation. It's nice to see that they have some free articles besides subscription. I took to listening to/reading topics from both sides because I assume there is always a bias.
ReplyDeleteKnowing how to use neutral language is an extremely valuable skill. It's one of the cornerstones of true objectivity (which isn't very fashionable nowadays). But it's something we really need to return to, even if only for our personal sanity and well-being. People have become so emotionally attached to particular opinions and "buzzwords," that they have become easy to manipulate. That's not helpful when it comes to things like elections.
I suppose you mean they have become easy to manipulate by their party of choice, and in that regard I am in agreement. But as someone often in the middle, I find it hard to manipulate, or at least have a rational debate with someone like that. You spend so much time correcting things, that often the point of an argument is hard to continue or follow.
DeleteYes, manipulated by the party they side with. I think the more objective one can become, the less easy it is to be manipulated, because it takes rational thought to think objectively.
DeleteThanks Ed; this has been on my mind of late as well.
ReplyDeleteIt occurred to me that I am one of the few people I know that has a large group of acquaintances/friends on both sides of "the aisle". There seems to be a great cutting off right now (on both sides), which genuinely troubles me as it locks people into a single world view, generally a more and more frenetic/fanatic one. This was one of the issues that the states of The Crusade (Outremer) had; every time the Franks had learned to live with the local Muslims, along came another group from the West whose only goal was not co-existence but kill the heretics - which then poisoned relations, leading to a restart of the cycle.
That said, I will say that most modern media's inability to simply report news with bias (is this even taught anymore) makes it very difficult to listen or read much of it.
It makes me wonder, how much of the media bias is simply a poor choice of words? I listen to NPR a fair amount that advertises itself as a balanced news source but I find it often well left of center on many of its pieces in word biasing and choice of "expert" guests is uses for interviews but still for the most part, enjoy it's programming. Perhaps if they examined their choice of words more carefully, the could truly become more "fair and balanced" like Fox News. That last part of course is said very tongue in cheek.
DeleteI find most of my friends too seem to hang out with their own brethren or at least only talk politics with their side. I have one exception to this, a men's group that I belong too and who had a meeting just last night. Of course the conversation strayed over to recent political events and there was a lot of biting of tongues but it was for the most part, didn't get to the contentious stages often associated with such conversations these days. Of course, the fact that we are a religious men's group probably had a lot to do with that as we are to "love our neighbor".
Thanks for sharing this, Ed. It's a great idea, though one I think can be difficult to pull off. People (including ourselves) can be stubborn and hard to change. Neutral language usage is beneficial not just in politics, but in religion and relationships in general. When you want to confront your partner about something, don't begin your sentence with the word "you" since it puts them on the defensive! Also, be careful using words like "always", "some", "most", "many", "never", etc.
ReplyDeleteAgain, I recommend the Monica Guzman book "I never Thought of it That Way," as well as "Learning to Speak God from Scratch" by Jonathan Merritt.
You are absolutely right of course though my hope is that perhaps this could be a planting of a seed that may or may not germinate someday if provided the right conditions. Like many groups meant to change behaviors, like AA or others, often the first step is just admitting one has a problem. Watching this video, it became very clear that I often use some loaded terms favored by the political right and I hope to be more mindful of that in the future.
DeleteThanks for the book suggestions as always. I usually shy away from religious focused ones as I rarely enjoy them for some reason. My mind doesn't seem wired towards "self help" type books. But I will look into the first one because the title sounds intriguing.
OK, I just signed up. I didn't subscribe, but to see what this is about. Thank you for this recommendation. I'm sure I need to get an even more unbiased view of the news because right now, I'm just depressed and can't bear to hear more of the same. I would like some reassurance.
ReplyDeleteI was just reading yesterday's post and in the comments, which I can read but as a non-paid subscriber, I can't participate in, a lot of people were carping about Tangle being right of center, sometimes by a lot. The Tangle staff thought it could be due to the recent influx of subscribers based upon the NPR show, the same one I heard, that nearly doubled their email list. But most of the longer readers seem to feel that Tangle was if anything, just slightly left of center. I have yet felt that it is biased towards either side but I have only known about it for less than a week. Honestly though, anything that is even close to neutral is such a relief in today's politically charged atmosphere.
DeleteYou are the second person to recommend Tangle to me! I will give it a try but right now, I'm on a news "diet" and doing some hibernation. :)
ReplyDeleteI can certainly understand and would bet you aren't the only one. I too am sort of deliberately avoiding some of the more left leaning sources right now, mostly certain NPR programming (Magna Chakravarty). For some reason, I have never been able to find a conservative news source that I could listen to for more than a minute. Perhaps I'm left of center myself though I'm pretty sure I could name a handful of people in my life, or more, that would never accuse me of such! I admit that I vote in the Iowa primaries (you have to be registered to a party to participate) with the Republicans because I feel as if the Democrats left me after Clinton and focused on issues that aren't as important to me. But the last 12 years of MAGA Republicanism has shown that they aren't focused much on me either. Perhaps one day, one party or another will focus more on centrist issues and I would gladly switch my registration preference for primaries again.
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