Review and Reflection on “The Righteous Mind” by Jonathan Haidt

This book was published in 2012. But really, it’s pretty timeless. Twelve years later and I find what Haidt wrote to be so very helpful. The subtitle is what grabbed my attention: “Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion.” If that’s not timely, I’m not sure what is.

And before we move on, let’s just take a moment to focus on the key two-word phrase in that subtitle — “good people.” We are so very polarized. We are reminded of this often through our media. I often wonder if we’re being told over and over again that those who disagree with us are not just of a different opinion, or even wrong, but are “bad” people for their beliefs. And if they are bad, then we should fight against them, we should defeat them, we should maybe even dehumanize them? Us vs. them. Oh how easy we slip into that dichotomy.

So why is this book needed? Simple — politics and religion aren’t going away and we have to figure out how we can coexist with those who see the world differently from ourselves. Because the reality is there is not one person on the planet who agrees with you 100% of the time on 100% of the issues at hand. Not one.

“Etiquette books tell us not to discuss these topics in polite company, but I say go ahead. Politics and religion are both expressions of our underlying moral psychology, and an understanding of that psychology can help to bring people together.” (Pg. xviii).