Why is Elon Musk so angry and contemptuous?
And how does that relate to our divides?
Alessandra Benedetti, Corbis via Getty Images
Elon Musk engages in contemptuous and insulting ways with his political opponents. Leaving aside entirely what he believes, the truth is that this is what many people do these days. Many of us, across the political spectrum, feel like we're in a war, surrounded by hateful and dangerous enemies.
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I wrote an op-ed for The Hill about Elon's polarization and what we can learn from it: Read my op-ed here. If you like it, please share! ​​​​​​
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As I discuss in that op-ed, this is not only a problem on the conservative side. The truth is that conflict brings out the worst in many of us: it deranges us, making us more team-based in our thinking, more intolerant of disagreement. It's important to see how conflict messes with our minds, and we can do that even as we may think "one political group is much worse in this regard."
Who am I?
​My name is Zachary Elwood and I've written two books about our divides. I wrote my book How Contempt Destroys Democracy for a liberal and/or anti-Trump audience. For pro-Trump Americans, I have the ebook Defusing American Anger (which I hope to have in paperback soon).
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Regardless of your politics, I think you see this as a hugely important endeavor. People across the political spectrum have thanked me for my work.
About How Contempt Destroys Democracy, Kirkus Reviews wrote: “Compelling arguments, based on astute observations and backed by solid research.” Polarization researcher Dan F. Stone wrote: “America needs its citizens to listen to Zach.”
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Please join me!
If you agree this is important work, or are skeptical and want to learn more, please sign up for my newsletter.
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If you're skeptical about this work, you might enjoy checking out this talk about common objections to these ideas.
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Learn more about my work on my home page.