Importance of Opening Dialogue: The Iran Conflict Case Study |
Meaningful dialogue is what allows students to engage with the world around them to the best of their ability. In my experience, staying in an echo chamber full of the same small range of perspectives negatively affects one’s ability to think critically about controversial topics like the current war with Iran.
That’s why I recently helped organize a tabling session at the University of Florida where students had the chance to have conversations with actual Iranians to hear other perspectives on the conflict that they may not have heard before. Observing these conversations made me realize that many opinions weren’t built from valid research. They were simply repetitions of unverified and untrustworthy influencer opinions.
Of the conversations I either participated in or listened to, many accused Israel of carelessly blowing up a school. Others simply believed that getting rid of the Islamic Regime that terrorized Iran didn’t have any benefits for Iranians or Americans. A majority of students did not even........