michael johnson's blog

Culture is the primary driving force in human affairs—not ideology, not technology, and not “them.” I, like so many of us, want the world to change in ways that can enable it to work better in support of life, joy, love, and creativity. In spite of this, we have taken ourselves to the darkest edge, doing enormous damage to every form of life across our Earth, including ourselves. In both cases, it’s the work of the cultures we produce. At no point in our history has it been as necessary as now to learn how to use our cultures so that they serve, more and more, the welfare of life, and damage it less and less. I believe this makes understanding how culture works muy importante.

Cornel West and Thomas Chatterton Williams discuss art in a polarized world.

In this blog I argue that root democracy, a central notion of the Growing Democracy Project, is the driving force of democratic deliberation: 1) wanting to hear and understand the other, especially when there is a conflict of any kind; and 2) being willing to disclose what is happening for you and what you want, especially in the context of a difficult problem.

Glenn Loury receives some negative feedback on how he "fights" with critical race theory advocates. He then thinks about the feedback on the spot, seeking to find what can be useful.

An exceptional discussion between Cornel West, black socialist, and Glen Loury, black capitalist.

Moving out of the grief of toxic masculinity

Collective Action groups, no matter how cooperative, are full of conflict. That's the nature of human life. The keys for working with conflicts are for members to personally pursue 1) wanting to hear and understand the other, and 2) be willing to disclose what is happening for you and what you want, especially when it is challenging to do so. 

The Growing Democracy Project (GDProject) envisions a national transformative civic educational system. Its job would be to develop legions of highly competent democratic practitioners to make democracy the predominant social and political force in our country. 

We are living in the unusual, and we don't know what that means. Maybe, all bets are off. Whatever, we will need to rethink a lot.

The New York Times is making a sincere and fairly effective effort to correct its serious missed-recognition of events and people (mostly women and people of color). One example of this is the publication of an Op-Ed piece about Ella Baker, a black woman who played as major a role in the Black Freedom Movement throughout the mid-20^th century, including the Civil Rights Movement, as anyone. Her biographer, Barbara Ransby, beautifully captures the heart, mind, soul, and hands of Baker’s work in 1250 words.

What do Americans call home?

Black Live Matter Activist and Tea Party organizer discuss politics

A conservative organization is focused on depolarizing political conversations.