Native to the Americas, the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) travels widely in search of sustenance. While usually foraging alone, it relies on other individuals of its species for companionship and mutual protection. Sometimes misunderstood, sometimes feared, sometimes shunned, it nevertheless performs an important role in the ecosystem.
This scavenger bird is a marvel of efficiency. Rather than expend energy flapping its wings, it instead locates uplifting columns of air, and spirals within them in order to glide to greater heights. This behavior has been mistaken for opportunism, interpreted as if it is circling doomed terrestrial animals destined to be its next meal. In truth, the vulture takes advantage of these thermals to gain the altitude needed glide longer distances, flying not out of necessity, but for the joy of it.
It also avoids the exertion necessary to capture live prey, preferring instead to feast upon that which is already dead. In this behavior, it resembles many humans.
It is not what most of us would consider to be a pretty bird. While its habits are often off-putting, or even disgusting, to members of more fastidious species, the turkey vulture helps to keep the environment from being clogged with detritus. Hence its Latin binomial, which translates to English as "golden purifier."
I rarely know where the winds will take me next, or what I might find there. The journey is the destination.
I think the concepts behind the depolarization challenge can also be applied to science and science communication. There was a (non-research) piece published in Nature a few months ago that provides a great example of this, but only part of it is publicly available (that I've been able to find so far). It acknowledges that an educated iteration of tribalism has contributed to mistrust in the scientific community globally and that things will need to change in their part.
Some people want to change but i think the majority are set in their ways or on their comfort zone. As far as our government goes..they refuse to work together..they have forgotten why they are there. It will be like this and worse until Christ returns!
I pride myself on the fact that, as a supervisor, I was always happy to let my subordinates fully and completely present their ideas and positions before I told them NO.
"I'd also add this: Be humble enough to know that you can be wrong. Be brave enough to admit when you're wrong. And allow space for the idea that sometimes, your ideological opponents are right."
We all need to print that on a wallet-sized card and read it at least once a day.
But unless you have an extremely hot flame it wouldn't even work underwater! Thats why they use magnesium torches for underwater welding. Maybe if they had atomic fire breath like Godzilla?
Wait, they're mythological creatures. Does it matter? Ah heck maybe I gotta write another story about Kaiju... or a sea monster capable of producing fusion induced plasma that they then use for hunting or an alien.
As we know, the answer to headline questions is "no" by default. But okay; I'm willing to listen.
It’s no secret that Americans are more politically polarized today than we’ve ever been. Do you even remember a time when we weren’t this way?
The only time I recall was the few months after September 11, 2001 – 24 years ago now. For a short but beautiful time, Americans really were united.
No.
We thought we were united. But it turned out that we were all mad for different reasons. One side was sad about the loss of life. The other seemed to be, but was really just pissed that someone caught us with our pants down.
Our representatives in Congress came together to proclaim their commitment to working across the aisle and backed it up with some major bipartisan laws.
Yeah. Really, really bad ones.
We Americans have settled ourselves neatly into political tribes that don’t work together, don’t listen to each other, and often despise one another.
Or both. I can despise both.
Many people have been hurt by our current level of polarization, and there’s worse pain to come if things continue this way.
If you haven't noticed, there's worse pain to come regardless.
Anyway, the article goes into this "depolarization challenge," and I have no need to reproduce it here.
At this point you might be thinking, “but why do I need to change? It’s those other people who are causing all the problems!”
I can understand that thinking. There are certainly things I've given up on because we'd all have to do it, and that ain't gonna happen. But when you think harder, for stuff like what's in this article anyway, maybe you come to the conclusion that it's easier to change yourself than it is to change other people.
Some people are not ready to step outside their comfort zone and change their mindset in this way. But those who do will be rewarded with a stronger sense of community, a more functional civic society, less heartache, better relationships, and a country that they can be proud of. And maybe, if enough of us do it over a period of time, our government can become less polarized too.
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