Review: Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt

Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt by Arthur C. Brooks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Arthur Brooks writes a much-needed and accessible book for the individual seeking to be part of the solution to the canyons of mutual disregard that divide us, canyons widened by and for the powerful in media, politics, and anger.

I recommend it heartily. Brooks is a business conservative, a religious man, a humanist, and a rebel. In sum, he is a man in full who takes his own medicine.

He offers the following:

How each person can help make national healing happen:

1. Find a friendship with someone you can have productive, respectful disagreements.
2. “Don’t attack or insult. Don’t even try to win.”
3. “Never assume the motives of another person.”
4. “Use your values as a gift, not a weapon.”
P. 185-199

Five rules to subvert the culture of contempt:

1. ”Stand up to the Man. Refuse to be used by the powerful.... [B]e the person who gently defends those who aren’t represented, even if you disagree with them.”
2. “Escape the bubble. Go where you’re not invited, and say things people don’t expect.” Seek common ground. Tell your story.
3. “Say no to contempt. Treat others with love and respect, even when it’s difficult.”
4. “Disagree better. Be part of a healthy competition of ideas.”
5. “Tune out: Disconnect more from the unproductive debates....Obliterate your silos by listening, reading, and watching media on the ‘other side.’ Get rid of your curated social media feeds....Resolve to pay attention to ideas, not just politics.” P. 201-212

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