Thoughts on Conversations

My son and I went to an event at Wieden and Kennedy on June 13th called “A Conversation About the War, Part 2”, a followup to an event W&K held four years earlier when the war started. Jelly Helm, who works for W&K (and had helped us with this website) opened the conversation by quoting from several authors, quotes that I wanted to share here because they spoke to me about the Archimedes Movement as well.

From Stephen Miller’s “Conversation: A History of a Declining Art” –

The forces sapping conversation seem stronger than the forces nourishing it.

From Al Gore’s “Assault on Reason” –

Why has America’s public discourse become less focused and clear, less reasoned? Faith in the power of reason – the belief that free citizens can govern themselves wisely and fairly by resorting to logical debate on the basis of the best evidence available,instead of raw power – remains the central premise of American democracy. This premise is now under assault ….

…As a result, our democracy is in danger of being hollowed out. In order to reclaim our birthright, we Americans must resolve to repair the systemic decay of the public forum. We must create new ways to engage in a genuine and not manipulative conversation about our future …

…the remedy for what ails our democracy is not simply better education (as important as that is) or civic education (as important as that can be), but the re-establishment of a genuine democratic discourse in which individuals participate in a meaningful way – a conversation of democracy in which meritorious ideas and opinions from do, in fact, evoke a meaningful response.

From Margaret Wheatley’s book “Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future” –

… There is no more powerful way to initiate significant change than to convene a conversation. When a community of people discovers that they share a concern, change begins. There is no power equal to a community discovering what it cares about.

What we (you!) have begun with the Archimedes Movement is more powerful than you may realize.