Our collective responsibility on this website should aim to create and maintain an atmosphere conducive to rigorous intellectual dialogue, analysis and critique on any subject topic.

However it is of my opinion that in order to foster such an environment we might consider the following to engage in respectful communication:

1. We will listen to one another -- patiently, carefully-- assuming that each one of us is always doing the best that she can. We will speak thoughtfully. We will speak in the first person.

2. Although our disagreements may be vigorous, they will not be conducted in a win-lose manner. We will take care that all participants are given the opportunity to engage in the conversation.

3. We will own our assumptions, our conclusions, and their implications. We will be open to another’s intellectual growth and change.

4. We cannot be blamed for misinformation we have been taught and have absorbed from our U.S. society and culture, but we will be held responsible for repeating misinformation after we have learned otherwise.

5. We each have an obligation to actively combat stereotypes so that we can begin to eradicate the biases which prevent us from envisioning the well being of us all.

In other words, RESPECTFUL COMMUNICATION would consist of the following:

R = take RESPONSIBILITY for what you say and feel without blaming others.

E = use EMPATHETIC listening.

S = be SENSITIVE to differences in communication styles.

P = PONDER on what you hear and feel before you speak.

E = EXAMINE your own assumptions and perceptions.

C = keep CONFIDENTIALITY.

T = TOLERATE ambiguity because we are NOT here to debate who is right or wrong.

Let us be united in this journey to learn from one another. This site not only dwarfs the physical distance we have from one another but this site also have the capacity to dwarf our ideological and political distances that keeps us as foes of one another.