Episode 16: How do we create off-ramps for ourselves, and become able to offer off-ramps for other people -- especially people we're being urged to distrust, hate, or even dehumanize?

In the 16 episodes of this season, we've looked at some of the complex factors that have led us to this polarized and endangering time of emotional manipulation, cultic mechanisms of control, cruel hierarchies of human worth, and the constant manipulation of our attention and our emotions in this time of unregulated endstage capitalism. It's a lot.

But it's not everything.

There are things we can do to support ourselves and each other in this time of trouble. We can become off-ramps for ourselves and step away from polarization, distrust, and dehumanization to reclaim ourselves again.

We can refuse to become weaponized, and instead offer our presence to people we're being urged to exile.

We can find ways to become off-ramps to others -- if they're ready to step away, and also if they can't quite do so yet. The time to make up your mind about people is never.

This marks the final episode of season 1 of The Off-Ramp Project. Thanks for listening. Take care of yourself, and I'll see you in Season 2.

Books mentioned in this episode:

Missing the Solstice by Karla McLaren: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F6TRWRBZ

Beyond the Politics of Contempt by Doug Teschner, Beth Malow, and Becky Robinson: https://beyondthepoliticsofcontempt.com/

In this episode, I'm joined by authors Doug Teschner and Beth Malow to talk about their new book: Beyond the Politics of Contempt -- and it's such an important book for our polarized and contempt-filled times.

We've been taught to polarize ourselves and see difference as absurd or dangerous, and we've been invited to show contempt for people who don't believe or vote as we do.

These are social injuries, and they require social solutions. Doug and Beth talk about their book and their work as Braver Angels volunteers and leaders -- which has helped them avoid contempt, and learn how to reach across divides, de-polarize themselves, and rehumanize others.

Taking an off-ramp from this time of extreme polarization means identifying and challenging the ways we've been manipulated into warring camps. We don't have to agree, but we do need to stop exiling and demonizing others if we want to get anywhere worthwhile.

Books and sites mentioned in this episode:

Beyond the Politics of Contempt by Doug Teschner, Beth Malow, and Becky Robinson: https://beyondthepoliticsofcontempt.com/

Together Across Differences (Doug and Beth's FREE Substack): https://togethernow.substack.com/p/one-month-since-the-book-launch

The Hidden Tribes Report (a research project about understanding polarization in the US): https://hiddentribes.us/

High Conflict by Amanda Ripley: https://bookshop.org/p/books/high-conflict-why-we-get-trapped-and-how-we-get-out-amanda-ripley/1aa1a2637891ca8d

The Case for Phone-Free Schools by Jonathan Haidt: https://www.afterbabel.com/p/phone-free-schools?r=182klo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam: https://bookshop.org/p/books/bowling-alone-revised-and-updated-the-collapse-and-revival-of-american-community-robert-d-putnam/0a3388f210d22ad0

The Upswing by Robert Putnam: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-upswing-how-america-came-together-a-century-ago-and-how-we-can-do-it-again-robert-d-putnam/64510b7b8b907f87

BALANCED AND UNBIASED MEDIA OUTLETS

Tangle News: https://www.readtangle.com/

AllSides: https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news

he Flip Side: https://www.theflipside.io/

Ground News: https://ground.news/

Your situational depression is an essential emotion that helps you become aware of realities you may have been avoiding, and it removes your ability to move forward doing the wrong thing with the wrong intentions for the wrong reasons at the wrong time.

Sadly, we've been taught to see our situational depression as an unwanted thing -- a psychiatric disorder, and something not to be trusted. This is such a shame.

Sadder still, when the intelligence in our situational depression is not available to us, we can be vulnerable to people who want to control us by manipulating our depression (this happened on a national scale in 2015).

In this episode, we look at ways to listen to our own situational depression so that we can be better protected around people who would try to manipulate us into depression for their own gain.

Books and practices mentioned in this episode:

The Depression Inventory: https://karlamclaren.com/taking-a-depression-inventory/

The Language of Emotions by Karla McLaren: https://karlamclaren.com/the-language-of-emotions-book/

The Language of Emotions Workbook by Karla McLaren: https://karlamclaren.com/loe-workbook/