full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Jonathan Haidt: How common threats can make common (political) ground

Unscramble the Blue Letters


So here's another asteroid. We've all seen versions of this graph, right, which shows the changes in wealth since 1979, and as you can see, almost all the gains in wealth have gone to the top 20 percent, and especially the top one percent. Rising inequality like this is associated with so many problems for a dcocremay. Especially, it destroys our ability to tsrut each other, to feel that we're all in the same boat, because it's obvious we're not. Some of us are sitting there safe and sound in gigantic prtvaie yachts. Other people are clinging to a picee of driftwood. We're not all in the same boat, and that mnaes nobody's willing to sacrifice for the common good. The left has been screaming about this asteroid for 30 years now, and the right says, "Huh, what? Hmm? No problem. No pobelrm."

Open Cloze


So here's another asteroid. We've all seen versions of this graph, right, which shows the changes in wealth since 1979, and as you can see, almost all the gains in wealth have gone to the top 20 percent, and especially the top one percent. Rising inequality like this is associated with so many problems for a _________. Especially, it destroys our ability to _____ each other, to feel that we're all in the same boat, because it's obvious we're not. Some of us are sitting there safe and sound in gigantic _______ yachts. Other people are clinging to a _____ of driftwood. We're not all in the same boat, and that _____ nobody's willing to sacrifice for the common good. The left has been screaming about this asteroid for 30 years now, and the right says, "Huh, what? Hmm? No problem. No _______."

Solution


  1. trust
  2. private
  3. piece
  4. democracy
  5. means
  6. problem

Original Text


So here's another asteroid. We've all seen versions of this graph, right, which shows the changes in wealth since 1979, and as you can see, almost all the gains in wealth have gone to the top 20 percent, and especially the top one percent. Rising inequality like this is associated with so many problems for a democracy. Especially, it destroys our ability to trust each other, to feel that we're all in the same boat, because it's obvious we're not. Some of us are sitting there safe and sound in gigantic private yachts. Other people are clinging to a piece of driftwood. We're not all in the same boat, and that means nobody's willing to sacrifice for the common good. The left has been screaming about this asteroid for 30 years now, and the right says, "Huh, what? Hmm? No problem. No problem."

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
world war 6
moral electromagnet 4
common ground 3
asteroids headed 2
sea levels 2
graph shows 2
war ii 2
morality binds 2
sacred values 2
people circle 2
national problems 2
single threat 2
criminal justice 2
justice system 2
common threats 2
sides care 2
southern poverty 2
poverty law 2
law center 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
world war ii 2
southern poverty law 2
poverty law center 2

Important Words


  1. ability
  2. asteroid
  3. boat
  4. clinging
  5. common
  6. democracy
  7. destroys
  8. driftwood
  9. feel
  10. gains
  11. gigantic
  12. good
  13. graph
  14. hmm
  15. inequality
  16. left
  17. means
  18. obvious
  19. people
  20. percent
  21. piece
  22. private
  23. problem
  24. problems
  25. rising
  26. sacrifice
  27. safe
  28. screaming
  29. shows
  30. sitting
  31. sound
  32. top
  33. trust
  34. versions
  35. wealth
  36. yachts
  37. years