full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Zachary R. Wood: Why it's worth listening to people you disagree with
Unscramble the Blue Letters
While I didn't get to engage with John Derbyshire due to my president's diisatnitoivn, I was able to have dinner with Charles mruray before his talk. I knew the conversation would be difficult. And I didn't expect it to be pleasant. But it was cordial, and I did gain a deeper understanding of his arguments. I found that he, like me, believed in creating a more just society. The thing is, his understanding of what justice entailed was very different from my own. The way in which he weantd to understand the issue, the way in which he wanted to approach the issue of ietilunaqy also differed from my own. And I found that his understanding of issues like welfare and affirmative action was tied and depley rooted in his understanding of various libertarian and conservative beliefs, what dihsemiins and increases their presence in our society. While he expessred his viewpoints eloquently, I remained thoroughly unconvinced. But I did walk away with a deeper undrtsaednnig.
Open Cloze
While I didn't get to engage with John Derbyshire due to my president's _____________, I was able to have dinner with Charles ______ before his talk. I knew the conversation would be difficult. And I didn't expect it to be pleasant. But it was cordial, and I did gain a deeper understanding of his arguments. I found that he, like me, believed in creating a more just society. The thing is, his understanding of what justice entailed was very different from my own. The way in which he ______ to understand the issue, the way in which he wanted to approach the issue of __________ also differed from my own. And I found that his understanding of issues like welfare and affirmative action was tied and ______ rooted in his understanding of various libertarian and conservative beliefs, what __________ and increases their presence in our society. While he _________ his viewpoints eloquently, I remained thoroughly unconvinced. But I did walk away with a deeper _____________.
Solution
- deeply
- expressed
- diminishes
- murray
- wanted
- understanding
- disinvitation
- inequality
Original Text
While I didn't get to engage with John Derbyshire due to my president's disinvitation, I was able to have dinner with Charles Murray before his talk. I knew the conversation would be difficult. And I didn't expect it to be pleasant. But it was cordial, and I did gain a deeper understanding of his arguments. I found that he, like me, believed in creating a more just society. The thing is, his understanding of what justice entailed was very different from my own. The way in which he wanted to understand the issue, the way in which he wanted to approach the issue of inequality also differed from my own. And I found that his understanding of issues like welfare and affirmative action was tied and deeply rooted in his understanding of various libertarian and conservative beliefs, what diminishes and increases their presence in our society. While he expressed his viewpoints eloquently, I remained thoroughly unconvinced. But I did walk away with a deeper understanding.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
| collocation |
frequency |
| charles murray |
4 |
| john derbyshire |
4 |
| deeper understanding |
4 |
| controversial speakers |
3 |
| richard herrnstein |
2 |
| affirmative action |
2 |
| private school |
2 |
| individual interactions |
2 |
Important Words
- action
- affirmative
- approach
- arguments
- beliefs
- believed
- charles
- conservative
- conversation
- cordial
- creating
- deeper
- deeply
- derbyshire
- differed
- difficult
- diminishes
- dinner
- disinvitation
- due
- eloquently
- engage
- entailed
- expect
- expressed
- gain
- increases
- inequality
- issue
- issues
- john
- justice
- knew
- libertarian
- murray
- pleasant
- presence
- remained
- rooted
- society
- talk
- tied
- unconvinced
- understand
- understanding
- viewpoints
- walk
- wanted
- welfare