WSU Honors Program Brings Civil Discourse for Thanksgiving Dinner
OGDEN, Utah – The Honors Program at Weber State University will serve up a lesson in civil discourse as they present the “How to Survive the Thanksgiving Dinner Table: Civil Discourse in a Politically Polarized Time” lecture Oct. 26.
The lecture is part of their “Food for Thought” series, where professors provide insights on different dilemmas facing the modern world and discuss skills necessary to succeed in adult life. Previous lectures have discussed things such as proper interviewing skills and Eclipse Science and Eclipsed Learning.
“I think that the current political climate is a result of people being very sure they are correct about every issue,” said Leah Murray, professor of political science. “What we have seen is people ‘unfriending’ people because of political posts on Facebook. So what we have is political sorting and a social media that lets us announce every political thought we have. This is a combustible combination and we need to address how to manage it.”
Murray will combine life experience with tactful diplomatic skills and instruct students in how to handle potential awkward conversations that could occur at the dinner table.
“The old adage is you don't talk about politics, sex, or religion if you want to be polite,” said Murray. “But social media allows a glimpse into people's private lives that we haven't had in the past so we are talking about these things, maybe all the time and maybe more than we are used to. We have to relearn how to do this.”
Murray says she is the daughter of a “hippie” who rallied against the Vietnam War and the granddaughter of a veteran who served proudly in World War II. Her grandmother was from Australia and would always provide an outsider point of view on anything happening politically in America.
“My family taught me how to engage in political discourse from a very young age,” said Murray. “So when I think of good political conversation, I think of it happening around a dinner table. It could have always been problematic to discuss anything, but they loved each other and they taught me how to have conversation with respect and with a smile.”
The lecture will be on Oct. 26 at 12:30 p.m. and will be in the Hetzel Hollein room (LI 321) of Stewart Library. The lecture is free to the public, and all are invited to attend.
Visit weber.edu/Honors/newsroom for more information on the lecture.
Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
Charles Bowker, Office of Marketing & Communications
801-626-7295 • charlesbowker@weber.edu- Contact:
Leah Murray, Political Science Professor
801-626-7994 • lmurray@weber.edu