full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Steven Petrow: 3 ways to practice civility

Unscramble the Blue Letters


(Sighs)

"Shut up or else."

So, what's to be done to forestall civility from turning ugly, from turning violent? My first rule is to deescalate language. And I've spteopd using trigger words in print. And by trigger words, I mean "homophobe," I mean "racist," I mean "xenophobe," I mean "sexist." All of those wodrs. They set people off. They're incendiary and they do not allow us to find common ground. They do not allow us to find a cmmoon heart.

And so to this point, when John miccan died in 2018, his supporters noted that he never made personal attacks. But his opponents agreed as well, and I though that was what was really noteworthy. He challenged people's policies, he caellenhgd their positions, but he never made it prneosal. And so that's the second rule.

Open Cloze


(Sighs)

"Shut up or else."

So, what's to be done to forestall civility from turning ugly, from turning violent? My first rule is to deescalate language. And I've _______ using trigger words in print. And by trigger words, I mean "homophobe," I mean "racist," I mean "xenophobe," I mean "sexist." All of those _____. They set people off. They're incendiary and they do not allow us to find common ground. They do not allow us to find a ______ heart.

And so to this point, when John ______ died in 2018, his supporters noted that he never made personal attacks. But his opponents agreed as well, and I though that was what was really noteworthy. He challenged people's policies, he __________ their positions, but he never made it ________. And so that's the second rule.

Solution


  1. words
  2. mccain
  3. common
  4. personal
  5. challenged
  6. stopped

Original Text


(Sighs)

"Shut up or else."

So, what's to be done to forestall civility from turning ugly, from turning violent? My first rule is to deescalate language. And I've stopped using trigger words in print. And by trigger words, I mean "homophobe," I mean "racist," I mean "xenophobe," I mean "sexist." All of those words. They set people off. They're incendiary and they do not allow us to find common ground. They do not allow us to find a common heart.

And so to this point, when John McCain died in 2018, his supporters noted that he never made personal attacks. But his opponents agreed as well, and I though that was what was really noteworthy. He challenged people's policies, he challenged their positions, but he never made it personal. And so that's the second rule.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
caitlyn jenner 3
original definition 3
dirty word 2
washington post 2
civil discourse 2
christmas decorations 2
frightened parochial 2
parochial lizard 2
lizard brain 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
frightened parochial lizard 2
parochial lizard brain 2

Important Words


  1. agreed
  2. attacks
  3. challenged
  4. civility
  5. common
  6. deescalate
  7. died
  8. find
  9. forestall
  10. ground
  11. heart
  12. incendiary
  13. john
  14. language
  15. mccain
  16. noted
  17. noteworthy
  18. opponents
  19. people
  20. personal
  21. point
  22. policies
  23. positions
  24. print
  25. rule
  26. set
  27. sighs
  28. stopped
  29. supporters
  30. trigger
  31. turning
  32. ugly
  33. violent
  34. words