Understanding and laughter flow as McCarthy Center Lecture helps get Disagreeing Better initiative underway

Danger Boat performed their Theater of Public Policy show on the St. John’s University campus on September 19th. Tane Danger interviewed Washington University professor of Law, John Inazu, about his latest book, “Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences With Empathy and Respect”. The cast listened to the conversation and then brought the material to life onstage. An article published on the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University website by Frank Rajkowski provided an overview of the event:

““The ‘don’t be a jerk principle’ can go a long way in the world,” Inazu told the crowd gathered inside SJU’s Stephen B. Humphrey Theater for the event, which was sponsored by the Eugene J. McCarthy Center for Policy and Civic Engagement.

“If you want to persuade someone of the better argument that you have, insulting them or being vitriolic is seldom going to win the day. And the other thing is …. there’s no need to be arguing all the time. And everybody should have places that they can go to just be normal and relax.”

Thursday’s program consisted of an on-stage discussion between Inazu and Tane Danger, leader of the Theater of Public Policy, an improvisational comedy show produced by the Twin Cities-based theater and events company Danger Boat Productions.

After Inazu and Danger’s question-and-answer session, the troupe members took the stage to act out some of the themes and ideas they discussed – including what a political debate might look like if the two candidates allowed themselves to show they liked each other, and a student inappropriately picking Thanksgiving as a time to show up at a professor’s home to confront them about something they disagreed with in class – with the professor nonetheless being willing to admit they might have been wrong.”

You can read the rest of the article here and watch the entire event below.