Talking Politics at Thanksgiving? We Want to Hear About It.

Tell us how you dealt with thorny topics at the dinner table.

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The season of gathering and feasting is upon us. If that means you’ll be eating with family this year, you might be hyper aware that sharing DNA doesn’t necessarily mean sharing the same opinions about things—like politics. With so much happening in the news these days, you may be dreading the more prickly conversations that are bound to come up. But being forced to spend time with relatives you disagree with might not be such a bad thing. 

Since the election, we’ve seen the rise of a number of groups and initiatives aimed at making some of these difficult discussions easier. For a recent episode of our food politics podcast Bite, reporter Jenny Luna went to a dinner party focused entirely on having awkward political conversations. Organized by a group called “Make America Dinner Again,” the parties bring together people with different viewpoints over a meal. In our Nov/Dec issue, writer Dashka Slater looks at the techniques groups are using to facilitate civil conversations. (Interestingly enough, one cognitive linguist said that we shouldn’t argue policy and facts, but rather talk at the “level of the heart.”) The conversations certainly aren’t easy, but they can be an opportunity for transformation, learning, and increased empathy on both sides. 

This Thanksgiving, we’re interested in hearing from you. Did politics come up at the dinner table this week? Did you try something new to encourage a more civil or productive conversation? Tell us what happened.








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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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