I created this model to illustrate the landscape of political discussions.
In the current climate of simplistic divisiveness based on shallow identities and fragile egos, real discussions with subtlety and depth, with genuine insights, are few and far between.
The Plain of Civil Discourse is what I think we need to spend our time on. This is where genuine discussions are possible, even with disagreements.
The slope of myopia is where egos are bruised, and parties become defensive and increasingly closed-minded. These are the beginning symptoms of increasing movement towards extremist ideas.
Extremism exists at both ends. Extremism is unhelpful, damaging, and hard to come back from. Once someone goes over the edge, they fall down the Cliff of Zealots and end up in the Bay of Bonkers.
