Conversation is a battlefield with only one winner. Or is it? Comedian and author Jordan Klepper believes we can get better at talking to each other (and perhaps save democracy) by learning how to lose.For a chance to give your own TED Talk, fill out the Idea Search Application: ted.com/ideasearch.Interested in learning more about upcoming TED events? Follow these links:TEDNext: ted.com/futureyouTEDSports: ted.com/sportsTEDAI Vienna: ted.com/ai-viennaTEDAI San Francisco: ted.com/ai-sf Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas and conversations to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. It's a question that continues to be relevant, maybe now more than ever. If democracy depends on discourse, how do we have constructive conversations in a time of great polarization?
In this wonderful 2023 talk from our archives, writer and comedian Jordan Klepper offers humorous, and I'll add helpful, tips on how to have these conversations. This is a fun one.
When Ted asked me to be a part of this democracy event, I was flattered. When they told me it was a pro-democracy event, I paused. Like, really? We still think this is a good idea? Giving everyone a voice? Have you talked to everyone? One in ten Americans believe chocolate milk comes from brown cows. We want those people weighing in on foreign policy.
I guess if democracy is hearing from the voice of the people, consider me skeptical of that conversation. Because I think we're incapable of having it. Any conversation. And not just in America. Globally, we're tuning people out. Frankly, we're bad at talking to other people. It didn't always used to be this way. In the old days, it came naturally. We would talk to folks.
We would negotiate over food or childcare so your kid didn't get eaten by a bear or run off and invent fire. But since then, it's gotten harder, more difficult. Screens have placed an impediment between people and thought. Partisanship has made talking to someone outside of your own POV traumatic. Now, talking to somebody with a different point of view than yourself is to be avoided at all costs.
It's like paying taxes. You should do it, but if you can avoid it, it makes you smart. It's an awful time for conversations, so much so that even right now, I've opted for a lecture. I won't be taking questions. I find it easier to speak at you. So how do we get here? Well, as someone in their 40s, I'm legally obligated to point the finger at social media.
The cultural conversations we have are dictated by the forums we have them in. And all those forums, they just push us towards short, loud outbursts. Maximum volume, short duration. Even right now, this TED Talk is only seven minutes. I remember when TED Talks used to be 18 minutes long.
Now you have to communicate the economics between behind climate catastrophe and the time it takes for a potty break. Not great, guys. Not great. I remember the good old days when TED Talks used to be Theodore discussions. A year from now, they're just going to be tease GIFs. So, how do we get better at talking to one another?
If democracy depends on discourse, on compromise, how do we have civil conversations? Well, the long answer is destroy the bias of social media and the cesspool of misinformation that is propagated by the entertainment machine that dominates our politics and discourse. I could tell you how to do that, but Ted only gave me seven minutes, so... Sorry.
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