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UID:30061-0@www.visitcalgary.com
DTSTAMP:20260811T105640Z
DTSTART:20260829T170000Z
DTEND:20260829T190000Z
SUMMARY:How Can You Think That?! Political Book Club: Irrational Publics
DESCRIPTION:A book club for conservatives and liberals who want to get out 
 of their echo chambers and bridge the great divide. Buy the book\, read it\
 , and come join us for a lively discussion. This month's book is Irrational
  Publics and the Fate of Democracy by Stephen J.A. Ward\n\nAbout the book \
 n\nAcross cultures\, democracies struggle with intolerant groups\, misinfor
 mation\, social media conspiracies\, and extreme populists. Egalitarian cul
 tures cannot always withstand this swing towards the irrational. In Irratio
 nal Publics and the Fate of Democracy Stephen Ward combines history and evo
 lutionary psychology for a comprehensive view of the problem\, arguing that
  social irrationality is likely to occur when social tensions trigger a per
 son’s enemy stance: ancient extreme traits in human nature such as aggres
 siveness\, desire for domination\, paranoia of the other\, and us-versus-th
 em tribalism. Analyzing eruptions of public irrationality – from apocalyp
 tic medieval crusades and Nazi doctors in extermination camps to suicidal c
 ults – Ward presents his evolutionary theory of public irrationalism\, de
 monstrating that human nature has both extreme Darwinian traits promoting c
 ompetition and sociable traits of cooperation and empathy. The issue is whi
 ch set of traits will be activated by the social ecology. Extreme traits\, 
 once adaptive when humans were hunter-gatherers\, have become maladaptive a
 nd dangerous. Catalyzed by intolerant media and demagogues\, the swing towa
 rds the irrational weakens democracy and may lead to human extinction throu
 gh nuclear holocaust. Irrational Publics and the Fate of Democracy conclude
 s with practical recommendations on what society should do to resist the en
 gines of unreason within and without us.\n\nMore about the book club\n\nWeâ
 €™ve all felt it: Whether we’ve argued pointlessly with someone on social
  media\, felt our blood pressure rise as we’ve fought over politics with 
 family members\, or simply veered delicately away from certain topics\, itâ
 €™s hard to ignore the chasm between those who hold opposing political view
 s. And it feels like it’s getting worse\, that politics are getting uglie
 r\, and that reasonable discussion is falling by the wayside. What can ordi
 nary people do to bridge the great divide? We can read books that smart and
  reasonable people have written in defense of their views and we can talk a
 bout these books with others who may or may not wear the political stripes 
 we do. Come to Shelf Life Books for a monthly book club that does just that
 . Ideally\, participants will have read the book assigned for that day\, an
 d will come prepared to discuss it. All of the books on our list will be ma
 de available by Shelf Life. We will meet from 11 AM to 1 PM on the last Sat
 urday of every month (except for April).\n\nhttps://www.visitcalgary.com/ev
 ents/how-can-you-think-that-political-book-club-irrational-publics\n\nhttps
 ://www.facebook.com/events/2247326542690952/
LOCATION:Shelf Life Books\, 1302 4 St Sw\, Calgary\, Alberta\, T2R 0X8
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