New book aims to clean up the toxic state of public conversation

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Has public conversation taken a turn for the worse?

You’d be forgiven for thinking so, given the nastiness that can be seen on social media and comments pages these days, not to mention the overblown rhetoric of politicians like Donald Trump.

The author of a new book aims to do something about it.

“Just like you can pollute the natural environment, you can pollute public conversation,” explains veteran public relations advisor James Hoggan, author of “I’m Right and You’re An Idiot: The Toxic State of Public Discourse and How to Clean It Up.”

“It can be just as toxic and it can make people just as sick as pollution in the natural environment.”

He worries the level of debate these days may sour people on the democratic process. “What they see is unyielding one-sidedness and this kind of warlike way that they disagree then people just turn off.”

Hoggan says the first step in addressing this is admitting there is a problem. “I think we need to kind of get a better sense of what a healthy debate looks like and particularly how does it actually lead to common ground.”

“I’m Right and You’re An Idiot: The Toxic State of Public Discourse and How to Clean It Up” is published by New Society Publishers.

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