The Argument Culture: Stopping America's War of Words

Abstract

This book by renowned linguist Deborah Tannen provides a powerful yet disturbing commentary on the growing polarization of America. Fortunately, it also provides some useful understanding and insights that OD professionals can turn into changes both personally and professionally to counteract the observed trends. It is well-written and worth the time, though it is not light reading. Expect to read it in multiple sittings. Over the last 20 years I have lamented an apparent escalation of confrontation and decreasing sense of “community ” and interdependence in multiple arenas of modern day life. Evidence of this escalation has come in many forms. I have watched with dismay the increasing use of lawsuits to resolve that which in an earlier era would have been resolved with apologies, compromises or accommodation. Every decade’s “entertainment ” seems to require increasingly violent fights to satiate audiences. It seems to me that we are sold out more than ever before to the “winning is everything” attitude in political or legal arenas. Even in athletics it seems there is more violent confrontation at younger ages than ever before. Regarding professional sports, I remember seeing in the early 1970s a quote from the

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