High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out
Ratings10
Average rating4.3
Very interesting read, although I am glad it ended at around 60%. I learnt a lot but any more would have felt very repetitive.
Much more interesting than expected, especially around some ideas on how to relate with others who seem to be different.
In a world that's full of ‘high conflict' - binary quarrels between ‘us' and ‘them', between right and wrong, where both parties are so radicalized neither can see reason - we must learn to listen, to mediate, to step-out of conflict, or to transform it into productive conflict.
Ripley presents to us a lineup of interesting characters who did just that. A professional mediator who lost himself in local politics, a gang leader who carries on a gang rivalry whose origin everyone has forgotten by now, a environmental activist who fights without listening to science, and a guerilla fighter who tries to escape the narrative that has captivated a whole country for decades. Some of them hit a natural turning point, that mentally enabled them to step out of their life and their rage. Other's were nudged by useful interventions from outside.
Following along with the characters was super engaging and insightful.
The dismantling of the Black September terrorist group by offering them marriage and monetary compensation for children ... wild! And it worked!!
Now, how do I activate that ‘balcony mode' it sounds useful :)
