UC Davis professor teams with PBS for documentary on why people disagree on politics
DAVIS — With the election just under two months away, the rhetoric is heating up on both sides. So to help, one Sacramento-area professor is launching a TV special to try and bring people together.
Sometimes talking politics can be tense—to put it mildly.
"Is our country at a deadlock?" It's the question UC Davis Law Professor Aaron Tang set out to answer and fix through his TV special "Deadlock: An Election Story."
"What tends to happen is Americans become further entrenched in their views," Tang said. "They pick the side they align with and silo up."
Tang moderates the one-hour special and will navigate panelists through thought-provoking hypothetical situations. Participants will come from a wide range of backgrounds and be put in situations, based on real-life scenarios, where they have to make decisions.
"When you confront people with actual decisions with high stakes, in a hypothetical environment, outside the talking points people are familiar with, that they can find that unusual, unconventional common ground or at least talk to each other or disagree in a way that's productive," Tang said.
He hopes viewers can apply what they learn to their everyday lives, especially when it comes to politics.
"We are so quick in the present day to think the other side is either being duplicitous or basic," Tang said.
Instead, the professor says we need to agree that it's good to come together even if we don't agree in the end.
"In my conversations with people that I disagree with on policy matters, I have often found that we want the same things at the end of the day," he said.
"Deadlock: An Election Story" premiers this Friday on PBS, on air and online. You can also watch it on YouTube.