GET THE FILM AND FACILITATOR'S GUIDE
False Polarization
False Consensus Effect
The Spiral of Silence
Social Identity Theory
Tribalism
Confirmation bias
Filter bubbles/echo chambers
How we overestimate our differences and misperceive how much the other side hates us
How to be a confident pluralist
The disagreements to expect in college
To participate in exciting campus debates with our partner Bridge USA or to start your own chapter:
Find FURTHER Readings and Resources HERE
Want to bring comedians to perform on your campus? Please reach out!
The Jester’s Bridge Facilitator Guide, which pairs with the 15-minute documentary Jesters and Fools, is a collaboration between Heterodox Academy and Gotham Arts. The free Guide can be used by anyone teaching first year students.
Objectives of the Orientation Module
Provide students with multiple options for engaging constructively and courageously across disagreement.
Introduce students to the potential value of using humor in confronting ideas they find upsetting or offensive.
Help students appreciate the university environment of free and open inquiry, including its inherent limitations and responsibilities.
Encourage students to see disagreement as opportunities for courageous engagement, increased understanding of self and others, and opportunities for learning.
Fallacies around assuming animosity from those of differing opinions
Free speech on campus
Academic freedom
Toxic polarization
Emotional reasoning
Identity malleability and sensitivity
Comedians are natural social scientists. The great ones have credibility because they shoot in every direction. Their power to highlight the absurd is exactly what we need now. Hearing funny, famous people express more open ideas could help students become more comfortable with new ideas and each other.
— Rob Feld
