#Dialogue

A talking circle is a ritual of gathering in a ring to take turns sharing feelings, staging self-improvement and faux solidarity. Under the guise of safety and trust, participants become spectators reflecting their wounds in others’ stories. Sometimes prompting tears of deep empathy, it’s really a tool of self-satisfaction in disguise. Whether in a conference room or community center, tossing the baton of words crafts play-acting instead of genuine dialogue. What is gained is a delicately thin sense of unity and the regret of tomorrow.

Value discussion is a ceremony held in meeting rooms to ostensibly explore each other’s values while covertly validating one’s own convenience. Participants lend ears but activate noise-cancelling shields the moment it gets inconvenient. Diversity is celebrated only to be funneled through the homogenizing filter of corporate slogans. Behold the fluttering of the butterfly of pretense.