WILMINGTON, N.C., Oct. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- With the 2024 presidential election now only weeks away, tensions are high and civil discourse is at an all-time low. This societal problem has reached many families, and relationships find themselves strained or divided due to political differences. A non-partisan website and podcast series, Reframing the Conversation, hosted by a Communication Studies professor from North Carolina, might have some answers.

"The biggest shift in today's politics is the move from politics being seen as an area of policy disagreement to a battleground of moral and ethical superiority," says Brubaker. "The intensity of modern political discourse has made it harder for people to separate their political beliefs from their personal identity and to separate other's political beliefs from their personal identities, which has led to more emotionally charged conversations."

Many people feel that they've lost loved ones to an atmosphere of hatred, hostility, and judgment that characterizes much of today's political communication. As political beliefs become tied to moral judgments, conversation deteriorates into attacks. This erosion of civility makes it harder to find common ground or reach compromises on important issues.

"When the election is over, what happens to those relationships is impacted by how we handle them now," says Dr. Jennifer Brubaker, creator of the website ReframingtheConversation.com and associated podcast series. "It's important to understand how to communicate with people in our lives, even when we disagree with them about politics."

Divisions occur when political affiliation is used as a shortcut to judge someone's character. Overall, there's been a decline in civility because of this type of identity-based politics. Instead, by communicating thoughtfully and using certain techniques, many relationships can be saved.

Brubaker's website and series provides help to guide people as they try to understand their own political beliefs, their family members' beliefs, the importance of being media literate, and clear tips on how to communicate about politics in a healthy and constructive way. Brubaker also gives help to people looking to repair damaged relationships.

"We are living in a society of political absolutism, but the reality is, we're much more similar than different in what we want," says Brubaker. "But the only way out of this is through civil political discourse that promotes understanding, and collaboration, and solutions."

A professor of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington since 2006, Dr. Brubaker is a public scholar in political and family communication. Seeing this struggle in relationships and this overlap of her areas of expertise, Brubaker set out to educate the public about why it is important for us to reframe the conversation about politics, how and why people have their political views, as well as how you can protect and repair relationships that are impacted by political differences.

Media inquiries may contact Dr. Jennifer Brubaker (910-789-3525, jen@reframing-me.com or brubakerj@uncw.edu) For more information, please visit us on Facebook at Reframing Me, Instagram @reframingtheconversation or visit ReframingtheConversation.com or jenniferbrubaker.com

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SOURCE Reframing Me