We will meet to discuss “Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right” by Arlie Russell Hochschild.

Choose hope, not anger.  Seek out people you don’t usually talk to, and listen to their stories. Recognize each other’s humanity. Read this book.

In Rev. Lois’ sermon of Nov. 27, she advised us to try to understand the viewpoints of those we feel at odds with, to stop trying to convince others to change their mind with facts and instead to listen with an open mind and an open heart.  Hochschild, an American sociologist and a devoted liberal from Berkeley, takes a journey “across the political divide, to an empathy with those on the other side.”

Based on five years among Tea Party activists in Louisiana—a typical, if perhaps extreme, Southern “red state” — “Strangers in Their Own Land” will elicit comparisons with “What’s the Matter with Kansas?” by Thomas Frank, a bestseller in 2004. Like Mr. Frank, Ms. Hochschild is concerned chiefly with what she calls the “great paradox” of ordinary, hard-working Americans seemingly voting against their own economic interests by supporting small-state Republican politicians. And like Mr Frank, she is certain such voters would be better off under the Democrats.

Ms. Hochschild has been praised for focusing on her subjects’ emotional lives. Her new book is no exception. It is people’s emotional response, she argues, that is the raw stuff of politics. What, then, do her subjects feel? They see themselves as betrayed by “line-cutters” — black people, immigrants, women and gays—who jump in ahead of them in the queue for the American dream. Southerners feel patronized and humiliated by northerners who tell them whom to feel sorry for, then dismiss them as bigots when they do not. They feel they are victims of stagnant wages and affirmative action but without the language of victimhood: struggling Southerners are not “poor-me’s”. They believe that they are honorable people in a world where traditional sources of honor — faith, independence and endurance — seem to go unrecognized: until Donald Trump began offering hope and emotional affirmation.

Ms. Hochschild offers an entry pass to an alternative worldview, and with it a route map towards empathy. In her book people like Janice Areno, a Bible-bashing Pentecostalist who says the poor should work or starve, become human. The anger and hurt of the author’s interviewees is intelligible to all. In today’s political climate, this may be invaluable.

 — Excerpted from the article Hand on Heart in The Economist, Sept. 10, 2016

Join us for a conversation that goes beyond demonizing “Them” and instead helps us achieve a deeper understanding of one another.

Four times a year, the WUUC Book Discussion Group gathers to read and talk about a nonfiction book. You only attend the meetings about books that interest you, so we end up with a different group of participants every time. We meet on a Friday evening to connect, share a meal, and talk about a book in depth. Anyone is welcome to suggest a book and/or lead a discussion.  Contact Alaine <alaine.davis@yahoo.com> to RSVP, suggest a book, or offer to host a future discussion.