A Way Forward: Listening February 23, 2018February 22, 2018 Have you read David Brooks’ account of a group called Better Angels? Really worth three minutes. I think you’ll be able to picture yourself in one of these conversations. While Putin is busy trying to divide us with fake tweets and real on-the-ground provocateurs, Better Angels — and Oprah, as you may have seen on “60 Minutes” — are trying to bring us back together. Not to agree on everything, but to see each other as the mostly good people we are; to listen; and to assume the best of each other, as we all too often fail to do. Listening to each other requires — it seems to me — not shutting down people we disagree with. Even if we really disagree. Here is the story of Professor Amy Wax, whose views some find offensive. But shouldn’t universities be places for robust debate? Places where people feel free to float — and decry — unpopular views? If a white supremacist or an atheist or right-to-lifer is speaking at your school, you don’t have to attend. Or you could attend with a protest sign. Or you could make a compelling, heartfelt comment when called on during the Q&A. Or write a passionate op-ed before or after the event. But not to allow the event? To drown out the speaker? “The politically correct Left is doing itself a terrible disservice when it renders certain topics undiscussable,” argues Steven Pinker in this compelling eight minutes of sanity. Just how we repel the ongoing Putin attack — and learn to tune out our own, homegrown provocateurs, for that matter — well, that I don’t know. But we should try. Have a great weekend.