How to listen when you disagree
Eh, perhaps I&#x27;m cynical, but listening to someone, and coming to understanding regarding how they might have developed there beliefs, sounds nice, and it&#x27;s very compassionate, but I question if it&#x27;s actually a step toward compromise, or simply understanding.<p>After all, for an increasing number of issues, in the end, the beliefs themselves are so polarized they leave no room for compromise.<p>To this woman, it doesn&#x27;t matter that someone had to make the painful choice to have an abortion.  They don&#x27;t care <i>why</i>.  The act itself is morally unjustifiable.<p>That is their belief.<p>There is no room for compromise in a belief system like that.<p>The same is true when you look at debates about gun control, climate change, etc.<p>So, sure, listening and understanding is an important first step.<p>But in a world where we are actively encouraged to conflate facts and beliefs (see:  Trumpiness), and where beliefs are so starkly polarized into black-and-white, good-and-evil, how can we have productive conversations on level ground that lead to compromise?  We can&#x27;t even decide which facts are actually facts!