> decline in the quality/willingness to engage in good-faith discourse Absolutely. And I have no idea what to do about it, even within my tiny sphere of influe

> decline in the quality/willingness to engage in good-faith discourse Absolutely. And I have no idea what to do about it, even within my tiny sphere of influence. I see people (metaphorically) putting on armor and actively building barriers just in the _anticipation_ of defending their beliefs. It almost seems like a lack of empathetic imagination. When I imagine the motivations, beliefs, fears, desires, etc that might be behind opinions that I am strongly against, it is usually followed by the empty feeling that hardly anybody else is taking the time to put themselves in anybody else's shoes.