Over the past few years, The United States of America has become increasingly divided.
Many of us live in echo-chambers or “bubbles” and are rarely able to practice the art of listening respectfully to other viewpoints. This is, in fact, no accident when you consider the motivations of social media algorithms. They want our attention. A great way to foment engagement is through emotions. And fury, disgust, and anger are powerful emotions.
But, when there is a man-made problem, there can be a man-made solution. We all have agency. We can all make our choices and opt-in or opt-out of things.
“Pop Your Bubble” is about opting-in
choosing to create space for civil, political discourse and bridge-building. This is something that is greatly needed in our country. And so, we invite you to “opt in”.
But at “POP YOUR BUBBLE” There are no winners.
This is not a debate. No one can win.
But in fact, we can all become losers. Our goal is to avoid that. To not become a loser, we must be civil, engage in respectful political discourse, attempt to hear and understand another viewpoint.
But no one is trying to change your opinion! It’s not about that. There is no “winning the argument” here. Instead, we are all trying to pop our bubble.
Act 1:
Our speakers will share a little about themselves by answering these questions:
Why do you love our country? Share a few things you love….
What about your life experience has shaped your views?
What is the funniest thing you have seen a cat do?
Act 2:
We will take turns sharing thoughts on a few “hot topics”. Speakers will get maybe 3 minutes per topic. We will take turns speaking. If it gets a little heated, audience members may request a cat video.
There will be a “moderator” – by which I mean, someone who can click play on the next cat video.
Perhaps a random pinwheel. Speakers can suggest topics ahead of time. Possibly list includes, but is not limited to:
- Immigration
- Drug addiction
- Gun violence.
- Rural America
- Climate
- Criminal justice
- A big problem you see today in America (wild card)
When We need a “cool down” - we will deploy our nation’s greatest cat videos:
Act 3
Here we have a 15 to 20-minute opportunity for the audience to share. They can speak on a topic or refer back to something that was said. They can speak up by raising their hand (or their cat-paper fan).
Following the 15 to 20 minutes, we applaud everyone.
Hopefully, we agree that we have not lost. And we invite everyone to enjoy a bubbly and mingle for a little while. We remind folks to meet new friends – and especially to “break bubbles” or silos.
A follow-up survey will be emailed out to everyone to solicit feedback.
And we encourage the audience to share this concept with a friend or two, so we can do it again sometime. Each time, perhaps new speakers and new audience members.