Frequently, groups at opposite ends of a polarized dispute or disagreement often experience what Will Braun called, “a polar chill.” Braun says a lot of people who experience that chill keep their heads down and don’t talk. They don’t want to rock the boat. They don’t want to fight or argue, so they feel the best thing they can do is keep quiet. I know I have done that too, but it really is not a very effective technique.  It does not warm up the polar chill. It retains it. The goal is to warm up the parties’ not keep them chilled.

Braun mentioned an example from his work as the editor of a Mennonite magazine supported by Mennonite Churches with varying opinions on transgender issues.  He was asked a question about the title of a magazine article which asked, “God made me perfect, so why do I want to change?” Braun was directed to stay out of that issue. But he felt a responsibility to the person who was asked that question by her adult child who was exploring his/her/their gender. The safest thing was to keep quiet and stay out of the discussion between mother and child. It may have been safe but was it the best thing to do?

Braun acknowledged the question and his instructions. What could he then do to address the question? What can we do when we have created a climate in which we cannot say what we mean when that question is in our hearts and we want to answer it? We have to be careful about answers we give in such an atmosphere, but the chill of silence is not good. It can’t be the answer, even if it seems prudent in the circumstances not to answer.

During the time of Covid-19 we had many tricky problems.  Some of us had to ask ourselves is it counter-productive to be coercive to others for their good and for the good of the community? Doing things that will make a problem worse is surely not the right response. Some churches wanted to consider restrictions in their churches about what people could and could not do. But the conversations were difficult. Many thought the vaccine deniers, if we can call them that, were hesitating to take the vaccines for the wrong reasons. They also said the Covid deniers were selfishly putting their own views about the public good.  But did they not have the right to decide for themselves without coercion about what would be put into their own bodies?  Can we even talk about the social costs of restrictions? Should we talk about vaccine passports in a place of work, when employers have a responsibility to provide a safe place of work to their employees? What about protecting the public however. Don’t we care about them too? There were a lot of hard questions that had to be dealt with thoughtfully.

As Braun said, “there is this orthodoxy on both sides and if you cross those lines watch out.”  That is a problem with so many “delicate discussions.”  But delicate discussions are important. Silence is often counter-productive, while actions are dangerous.

The manosphere is an umbrellas term for a loose network of people on line who promote male supremacist ideology. Many of them are sincere in their belief that young men are being shut out of relations with women by another informal network of feminists, and this amounts to oppression of young men. Such groups promote hatred against women and believe that the real victims of social change are men. They believe that society is biased against men and that this is partly caused by overly aggressive feminists.

In relation to this group, Braun asked this question: Can we thoughtfully engage the manosphere? Or should we take the position that any young man who approaches the manosphere will be shunned, dismissed and looked down to?

One way to address polarization according to Braun, is for moderates to be able to enter the space that has been left for safe and reasonable discussion. Often the space that is left for discussion is miniscule, but, as Braun, “it can’t be just the people at the extremes that get to discuss such difficult issues.” That can’t be right. Moderates have a right to speak too.

This is often hard for moderates to do. To speak out, to stick your neck out can be hard, but is necessary or the entire playing field is left to the extremists—i.e. the worst of all possible worlds.

Braun wants to make the world safe for moderation. So do I.