Aftab Erfan Speaks with CBC on Civil Discourse and Polarization

On April 2, 51 prominent Canadians addressed an open letter in the Globe & Mail to political leaders, calling on them to "address urgently the rise of incivility, public aggression and overt hatred that are undermining the peace and security of Canadian life."

CBC's BC Today reached out to Aftab to join Jennie Barron, chair of Selkirk College's Mir Centre for Peace, in conversation about the state of civil discourse in Canada. 

"I feel like we are in a moment where many of us are tempted to or kind of incentivized to become these brands online," said Aftab. "And, the quality of a brand is to be very consistent, you don't change your mind, you state things very strongly, you stick with what you've said before. I think that's polarizing. That's kind of the opposite of being in dialogue which requires you to think and change your mind every once in a while."

Listen to the full segment in the video above. 

We talk a little more about what it means to be in dialogue in our Shared Learning section.