In this world of misinformation, polarization and indoctrination, it occurred to me that sequencing of questions peppered with personal reflections might plant the seeds for critical thinking and healthy skepticism.
It all started with a conversational thought experiment I decided to launch with current and former cops and correction officers. Why them? Being an Irish-American, cops were the dominant profession among my ancestors. Having retired after 17 years working weekends as a mall cop, I rubbed shoulders with many who engaged in the criminal justice field and many “wanna-be-cops”. My career in non-profits and community development enabled me to network with folks working in the fields of probation, addiction rehabilitation, and community policing.
To all of the above referenced persons, I posed the following question:
“Who was the most vile, bad ass, despicable person you ever experienced during your career?”
Predictable responses included: murderers, rapists, abusers and persons consumed with evil intent.
NEVER mentioned were the following persons: trans persons, gay persons, undocumented immigrants, poor persons and those who are recipients of public assistance such as welfare or food stamps.
Upon vocalizing this observation, their response was NEVER any sort of epiphany but I sense that a seed of logic might have been planted.
To personalize the conversation, I shared information that one of the most abhorrent persons I encountered was a guy I worked with who murdered a 13-year-old boy. I would never have guessed that he could have done such a heinous act. I followed up this observation with a notation that he was a product of our school system, hiding in plain sight, performing his job. In sum, by all appearances he was your traditional USA citizen.
Then I decided to broaden my Socratic questioning to ALL persons that I encountered in the course of my travels. This included family, friends, acquaintances and even casual encounters if the conversational questioning seemed appropriate.
My questions to all of the above persons were the following:
“If you were bullied anytime in your life, what was the racial/ethnic background of your tormenter? The bullying could have included physical shoving on the playground, verbal taunting, social out casting via “mean girls” or whatever abuse you experienced either as a child or in the workplace”.
Why did I select bullying as the topic of my questioning? Sadly, it has been experienced by almost everyone if not directly or at least secondarily as an observer.
In NONE of the responses were there any references to being bullied by any of the following persons: trans persons, gay persons or undocumented immigrants.
Interesting
To personalize my own bully experience and build conversational rapport, I reflected on my bully-journey. It included 3 kids in grammar school all of whom were fellow Irish-Americans. To one of them I delivered a fat lip. To this day, I always wondered why I didn’t get in trouble with the nuns for clocking him. Maybe they didn’t like him either. The other two Irish-Americans realized how ballistic I can become and they steered clear. There was an Italian-American who harassed other kids on the bus and on the day that I showed up with a cast on my right hand, he decided to take advantage. To that I informed him that I would shove that cast where-the-sun-don’t-shine. That was the end of his bully career with me. The right hand healed well and to this day at age 70, I still land a mean right jab.
During my career there was the African-American boss who called me to her office to inform me that my salary was being cut by $20,000. This was done for no apparent reason. My performance record was fine and there appeared to be no agency budget shortfalls. When I asked if I was being reduced to part-time status, she smiled and responded “no”. It all seemed arbitrary and capricious. Welcome to workforce bully culture. I immediately job searched, landed a better job and never looked back.
NONE of the tormenters in my life, to the best of my knowledge, had trans or gay or undocumented immigrant status. When sharing this observation during surveys, the response was generally awkward silence, eye contact disconnects or a changing of the subject. Had there been any attitudinal shift? Probably not but at least a line-in-the-sand had been drawn. They now know where I stand. We can now decide whether there’s any value in sharing each other’s social orbit.
Back when the evil boss financially chopped me at the knees (I had just paid for braces for one of my kid’s teeth), two of my cousins cut checks to soften the financial blow. These cousins are much better off than me financially and I was eternally grateful.
This got me to thinking about asking the following Socratic question to all persons that I encounter:
“In your life, has there ever been a really rich person (I’m referring to a millionaire or billionaire) who has helped you financially? Did they provide a job offer during your time of employment need? Who in your life has been a mentor in terms of your career and life? Who can you depend upon to be a financial and emotional angel in troubled times?”
Unsurprisingly, there was NEVER any mention of millionaires or billionaires.
To this I posed the question:
“If those millionaires and billionaires were to pay a SLIGHTLY higher share of the tax burden, how would that adversely affect you? I follow up this question with a notation that they obviously are not helping you NOW so what would be the harm in MAKING them help you out?”
Again, the observation and line of questioning is met with a quizzical look mixed with skepticism. It reminds me of when your pet cocks his head trying to discern an instruction that has been given. No immediate result but a seed of doubt has been planted. A crack has formed in the wall of propaganda about how the masses will suffer if the rich BEGIN to pay their fair share.
What’s your thoughts? What Socratic questions might you pose? What are your observations? For more of mine, check out my website/blogs and my novel at www.dunnwriteswell.com
Dunn Writes Well 