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Segment 1: Football and Peacemaking - the Connection

The relationship between the NFL, brain injury and peacemaking is closer than you think. Our guest on this edition of the Doug Noll show will help us tie together the culturally significant pastime of football and the subject of peacemaking. She is Lorraine Esposito, author of The Peacemaker Parent, Solving Problems for Today, Teaching Independence for a Lifetime. Lorraine’s website is www.peacemakerparent.com.

The NFL is beginning to examine youth football because they have beloved sports figures in dire straights from injuries (specifically brain trauma). It’s good business to take care of the people who play the sports, as the kids of today will soon be eligible to play for franchises and the NFL needs to ensure the longevity of the sport. To combat the injury trend, Lorraine feels that the message about WINNING needs to be shifted and tailored to the developmental level of the kids. Admittedly this is difficult when one’s performance evaluation is based on the win/loss column at the end of the year. 

Segment 2: The Distinction Between Greatest and Greatness

Lorraine does believe winning is important. We need to give it our all, but the difference is how you define the prize. It’s not always the score on the scoreboard. Although we have a football industry that’s based on media consumption and huge local, regional and national identity, winning shouldn’t be our sole source of identity. From the top down, we need to redefine what winning means.

Winning needs to be balanced against other factors. There is a distinction between “being the greatest” and “greatness.” “Greatest” is fleeting and vulnerable and takes you away from the group.

Section 3: The Narrow Identity

It starts in elementary school. Kids wear jerseys of pro players and if they have insecurities, the jersey overcompensates. Their identity becomes their playing record and they have nothing else on which to fall back. Coincidentally, this is a core reason for war: when people only identify with a single ideology (their tribe, their religion, their regime) and do not have a broad identity structure, any attack on that identity will lead to a primal, violent response. They don’t have the capacity to see themselves beyond that narrow identity.

Segment 4: Moral Courage and the NFL

Lorraine tells us the link with football/competition/winning and peacemaking is simple: we need to stop and think about the promises we make to the people we care about. We need to take care of our people and make good on our promises, which will enable us to build integrity. Our actions will be consistent with our words. It’s not going to happen overnight. This is something that will evolve. There will be a tipping point and it will start with individual promises.

We don’t need to stand in judgment of the NFL. We recognize that this is a movement and a big change. All we can do is commit to making a change, remain open to updating what we thought was true, and hold our promises in mind. We need moral courage. The NFL should take a stand against the prevailing beliefs in favor of doing the right thing. After all, that’s what we try to teach our kids: it’s more important to have moral courage and stand up for your convictions than it is to cave to pressure and lose your moral compass.

To listen to the complete interview, click below:

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Segment 1: “We’re going to war.”

Our guest on this edition of The Doug Noll Show is no stranger to war and espionage. Art Keller is a former CIA officer who served in the Counter-Proliferation Division, a unit responsible for spying on and sabotaging Weapons of Mass Destruction programs. He also has worked on terrorism cases and his last assignment was as acting Chief of Base in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

Art’s personal journey began after high school, when he joined the army and then studied foreign affairs in college. His interest in foreign affairs led him to apply to the CIA and after an arduous selection process (he applied multiple times, and later found out that was the norm) he was accepted into the CIA organization. He wound up in the Counter-Proliferation Division with instructions to keep an eye on weapons of mass destruction. It was Art’s job to cover Iran’s missile program, and he does not believe that Saddam Hussein ever had weapons of mass destruction (WMD). However, his Chief of Station returned from headquarters and announced that “the decision had already been made: we’re going to war.” It was shocking.

Segment 2: A Corrupted Process.

In order to make the best policies, the policy makers need to know what’s really happening in a particular area. If we shape our intelligence around our policy objective (instead of the other way around) the process will be corrupted. Art spent a few months in 2003 and 2004 near Baghdad in 140 degree weather looking for weapons in the desert. By August 2003 it was clear to him that he was just going through the motions, but he had his marching orders and dutifully followed them out. He became certain there were no WMDs to be found. No one came forward with any viable information.

Segment 3: The Slow and Meticulous Dance.

The negotiations have resumed with Iran and the West over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Historically, peacemaking arms control has been a very slow and meticulous dance. There is a lot of distrust. From the viewpoint of the U.S., Iran hasn’t wanted to negotiate in good faith. Art says Iranians think very differently from us, but they do think. They have a very keenly developed sense of their own self-interest, which does not include having their whole country destroyed. A lot of it has to do with national pride. For example, they can’t believe Pakistan has a nuclear weapon and they don’t.

Art is greatly concerned about Israel and how they take actions without considering American interest. They have a proven record of bombing other people’s nuclear facilities (Iraq and Syria) as well as assassinating weapon scientists. It is an established pattern.

Segment 4: It’s Not About the Gadgets.

The CIA’s definition of assassination is killing someone - usually for political reasons - from a country with whom you are not at war. Art’s book, Hollow Strength, is about assassinations, secrets and espionage. It’s technically fiction but is based on his real life experiences. Human Intelligence is not about gadgets; it’s about relationships with people. Ask yourself this question: How bad would it have to be in your own country for you to be a spy for another country?  

To listen to the complete interview:

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Segment 1: We Live in a World of Stories.

Our guest on this edition of The Doug Noll Show is Dr. Amy Zalman (http://strategic-narrative.net/). Amy has worked to develop more culturally astute approaches to national security for over a decade. She is an expert on the strategic role of language and narratives in international affairs and violent conflict, and an authority on how the U.S. can better understand end engage foreign publics.

Amy has always had three enduring interests: language, political violence, and learning about foreign places. She finds that poetry and storytelling speaks to metaphor which in turn speaks to a different part of our brain. This enables people to look at problems – and solutions – in creative ways, which is crucial in the political and security arena. It is important to understand that we live inside this flow in order to work with others and have a positive influence.

Segment 2: The Myth of Redemptive Violence.

There is a myth in society that violence redeems evil and brings chaos under control. This is the “myth of redemptive violence” and it permeates every cartoon and every dramatic movie in society today. This plays out in our political affairs and in our culture. People respond to conflict that results in violence rather than stepping back and asking questions, learning skills, engaging in dialogue and thinking about possible implications. As a culture, we think violence is the answer to all of our problems. Yet, when we engage in violence we find that we spend enormous amounts of time and money trying to control events with power and force when we actually have no control at all. This “myth of redemptive violence” is one of the reasons that peace is so hard to achieve.

Segment 3: The Struggle to Reframe our Thinking.

Amy says there is a debate in Washington right now about whether the U.S. is in decline and how it should project itself within the world. We are in the middle of a battle to decide what kind of country we need to be in the world: one of community or one that continues to use force. Amy speaks with high-level personnel in the defense department and helps them reframe their thinking and their national stories. She often asks them, “Why would another country want YOUR story? They have their OWN national story.”

Segment 4: The Three Ways to Increase Power.

Strategic narrative within conflict resolution requires treading carefully around the parties and respecting their missions. There are three ways to be powerful enough to get people to do what you want them to do: you can coerce them, you can induce them with carrots on sticks, or you can attract/seduce them. You can get them to want what you want because you are so attractive. Amy encourages the military personnel to think about their own culture and who they are. This evokes some of the skills that they have with their own identity, which in turn helps them become more effective at peacemaking.

To listen to the complete interview:

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Segment 1: The Three Myths that Perpetuate War.

Our guest on this edition of The Doug Noll Show is Paul Chappell. Paul graduated from West Point in 2002 and served in the army for 7 years before leaving active duty in 2009 as a Captain. He is the author of a number of books and currently serves as the Peace Leadership Director for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, speaking throughout the country to colleges, high schools, veterans groups, churches and activist organizations.

Paul believes there are three myths that perpetuate war: first, human beings are naturally violent. Second, war is inevitable, and third, war makes us safe. Regarding the first myth, we are not born killers and do not have an innate desire to kill people, although there are all sorts of factors that cause people to become violent. Violence is taught by life experience and by our environment.

Segment 2: To Conquer or Be Conquered.

The second myth is that war is inevitable. This is a dangerous myth because as a country you only have two options: to be the conqueror or the conquered. In the U.S. we are considered to be culturally evolved and civilized, but if you look at countries like Afghanistan or Africa, they still see the world in terms of a power struggle. However, it is possible to renounce the use of war in one generation (i.e. Japan or Germany) especially if it is believed that it is their own best interest not to be waging war.

Segment 3: Peaceful Revolution.

The third myth is that war makes us safe. A lot of people believe that war is necessary to protect us from invasion, which is a philosophy based on fear. Paul believes virtually everyone wants peace, but they disagree on the means of achieving peace.

Trying to end war without understanding human nature is like trying to go to the moon without understanding the law of physics, so in Paul’s latest book, Peaceful Revolution, he sets out to research human nature within the context of war. Once we understand human nature we can pave a new path and look at alternatives to help us live in harmony. Paul looks at a large sample size (every war in human history) and finds that in every war the two sides dehumanize each other. He also discovers that in every war the propaganda says that people are fighting for something noble like protection of freedom (never for greed or money). These are universal truths in every culture and every time period and he uses them to make assertions about human nature and our powerful instincts.

Segment 4: The Mysteries of Human Nature.

So how do we go about teaching people about the positive values in human nature? Paul explores topics like empathy, hope, appreciation, discipline, curiosity and takes them out of the moral context and puts them into the context of human survival and human happiness. These attributes are vital for human survival and lead to more fulfilling and meaningful lives. Our commonalities transcend our differences. This is the path to peace.

To listen to the complete interview:

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