9Adar is February 15-21, 2021 (Adar 3-9 5781)

2017 Social Media Campaign

2017 Social Media Campaign

Overview

One obvious critical part of tochacha/constructive communication is to be able to understand the other side. The saying “walk a mile in their shoes” is well known and highlights the importance of empathy. But empathy, without being rooted in an understanding of where we, ourselves, are coming from, risks being superficial and is not sufficient in constructive communication. By following the following five steps, one can experience more constructive communication.

Steps

  1. Self-Awareness – Understand what brought me to my particular understanding of what I call truth.
  2. Humility – Accept that my truth may be only a partial-truth and that other’s may have different experiences and views that form a different truth.
  3. Respect – Respect the other side for the new insight they may bring.
  4. Curiosity– Use deep listening and a degree of empathy to learn the other’s truths and what brought them to think that way.
  5. Engagement – Staying attuned to the truth of your own story, and curious as to the story behind the other side’s truth, we can engage in a more constructive learning conversation. A conversation where each side walks away learning new information about the subject, the other and themselves. This may result in the changing of positions, or in staying in our original positions but with a greater appreciation and nuance.

Set it in Motion

  • Implement these steps in your difficult conversations
  • Like and Share our images (below) on social media using #myfeetyourshoes and @The9AdarProject: Jewish Week of Constructive Conflict.

Take the #BreakTheEchoChamber Challenge!

You’ve heard about “fake news” and “real news”, but what about “contradictory news”?

Contradictory news is when the same news event is reported in radically different ways via competing ideological news outlets, allowing its readers and viewers to stay safe and feel empowered within their own echo chambers. When people primarily read, watch and trust the news that supports their ideological biases, the conflicting groups will see their realities in very different ways, leading to a deepening and broadening of ideological divides and identity conflicts.

  • Find a news event (like a speech, or tweet).
  • Identify two contradictory news reports on this same event. To see some examples on Facebook, check out “Blue Feed, Red Feed“, a Wall Street Journal site which compares liberal and conservative Facebook feeds on specific topics.
  • Analyze what are the shared “facts” that both reports agree upon and what are at least two essential differences between them. What information was added or omitted? How was the same information understood differently? What other context is introduced to interpret the event?
  • Post your example using #BreakTheEchoChamber and @The9AdarProject: Jewish Week of Constructive Conflict.
  • Go deeper by applying the 5 steps of #MyFeetYourShoes as shown above.

Click here to see a sample challenge on Meryl Streep’s Golden Globes speech.

                   

Visit The 9Adar Project: Jewish Week of Constructive Conflict Facebook page to share the images directly from there.

Get Involved