The best question to ask when discussing serious social issues is, “Could you explain that a bit more?” Or “What do you mean by [a word or term used by the speaker]?” Ask that question, and then let the speaker explain. If they say something you disagree with, then go ahead and disagree. But chances are good that they are saying something reasonable and respectable.

The natural impulse of citizens who care about an issue to go outside and get noisy and silly doesn’t help. There’s no harm in wearing a funny hat. But for millions of Americans, protesting and demonstrating is the limit of their activism. Citizens need to recognize that marches and protests are only the beginning of change.

If you can adapt the concepts of Code, Conservancy, Clarity, Consequences, Compassion, Credibility, and Consistency, you can instill and preserve your values against all threats, internal and external.

The challenge you face as a citizen is to be fair and honest, and to answer tough questions in a way that applies equally to all of your fellow citizens, and that you would be willing to accept if, someday, you were part of the demonstrating and protesting group yourself.

Nobody should disrespect war so much that they confuse it with a small, brief act of criminal mischief. “This” does not equal “the second civil war.”

Public trust in 2021 has dissolved to the point that the public doesn’t believe anything. Some minority share will believe anything. But the larger consensus needed to make major efforts (e.g., covid-19 vaccinations, presidential transitions, reform of police procedures) successful just doesn’t exist. As Yglesias explains in his column, leaders can’t continue to expect public support. They’ve lost it.

To be a well-informed citizen, you need to gather information from a variety of sources. And you need to know whether each source of information you rely on is left-leaning, right-leaning, or objective. More basic even than that — you need to consider whether the matter at hand can be thought of as “true” or ‘factual” at all.