Building empathy through dialog.
As politics divides a country, we believe more unites us than divides us. The FDR Supper Club is a group of likeminded individuals who seek to bridge political divides through good food, great dialog, and increased understanding.
We meet once a month over dinner in the Jackson, MS area and would love to have you join us.
Political discourse in the U.S. is currently broken. We can fix it.
The past 20 years have seen an increase in political polarization that are unprecedented in the United States. Social media algorithms and the advent of 24-hour news cycle have created a toxic environment devoid of respectful disagreement.
The FDR Supper Club is the antithesis of polarization. We eat with people who disagree with us. We build understanding through a simply premise: people who disagree sit down for a meal and discuss why they believe what they believe. This dialog is transformative in building bridges between people who would not otherwise engage with one another.
How do we solve this problem?
Take the Conversation Out of Cyberspace
While we love catching up with friends and family using Facebook and Twitter like the next person, it’s unlikely our political divides will be solved there. In fact, studies have shown that the advent of modern social media has made us feel less connected and more polarized as a nation. Also, we genuinely believe, for the majority of us walking around, it’s far more difficult to be rude and dismissive when someone is sitting across from you. We believe strong empathetic connections are made person-to-person.
Establish Ground Rules
We believe in order to keep ideas flowing, tempers must be cool. As such, we’ve come up with a few ground rules to help keep our evenings flowing.
The FDR Supper club is a place to build understanding, not consensus. It’s unlikely anyone will change their core beliefs over dinner and a glass of wine; therefore, that’s not our goal.
Raising your voice past conversation level isn’t helpful. It’s easy to let passion about a subject turned into perceived animosity. Keep it low, keep it slow.
What happens at the Supper Club stays at the Supper Club. If someone wants to know about what’s said, they’re more than welcome to join us next month. If you’re a member of the media, we respectfully insist that all conversations are completely off the record.
Listen twice as much as you speak.