Conflict Resolution Training:

Sometimes, The Facts Don’t Matter

 
“Get your facts first and then you can distort them as you please” Mark Twain I have three quizzes for today. Your job is to select the correct answer(s). Here’s the first one. Ready? Quiz 1: 1. Border violence in the United States is on the rise. 2. Violent crimes in the border states are lower than they were a decade ago. Correct answer: Number 2. However, it is true that border violence on the Mexican side of the border is on the rise. Quiz 2: 1. Phoenix is the number 2 city in the country for kidnappings. 2. Headless bodies have been found in the deserts of Arizona. Correct answer: Neither. Both are fabrications. The source for number 1 is Arizona’s senior Senator, John McCain. The source for number 2 is the Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer. In both quizzes, the FBI’s crime statistics, taken from the FBI’s website, are the source for which stories are true and which aren’t. Quiz 3: A. We make decisions based on logic and the weight of evidence. B. We make decisions and then look for evidence to confirm that our decision was right. C. When we disagree with the facts, we attack the facts. D. “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend” (from the movie, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”). I’ll let you choose your own correct answer. These quizzes, of course, have implications for our own lives. Conflicts exist because people see the world through the prism of their beliefs. That’s unavoidable. This can be useful because, if the people in a conflict listen to one another, these conflicting beliefs can produce a creative solution to the conflict. Conflicts remain unresolved, however, because people see the world through the prism of what they believe and then fight for that belief as though it were the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. We might castigate politicians who should know better. At the same time, we need to see if we, in our own way, are vehemently clinging to our positions though we should know better. By the way, these quizzes are inspired by a story by Dana Milbank in the July 11th, 2010 Washington Post newspaper called “Headless Bodies and Other Immigration Tall Tales In Arizona” as well as from the July14th National Public Radio program “Talk Of The Nation” where Milbank was interviewed. If you’d like to listen to the NPR story, click http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=128490874&m=1284908687/14/10 If you’d like to read Dana Milbanks story, click http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/09/AR2010070902342.html?sub=AR QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? LJBARKAN@THEPIVOTALFACTOR.COM Permission to reproduce is granted as long as the following citation is included: Reprinted by permission of the author, Larry Barkan: http://www.conflictresolutiontraining.nethttp://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=128490874&m=1284908687/14/10http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=128490874&m=1284908687/14/10http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/09/AR2010070902342.html?sub=ARhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/09/AR2010070902342.html?sub=ARmailto:LJBARKAN@THEPIVOTALFACTOR.COMhttp://www.conflictresolutiontraining.netApology_2.htmlshapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1shapeimage_1_link_2shapeimage_1_link_3shapeimage_1_link_4shapeimage_1_link_5