02/28/2024
With the super-Tuesday primary around the corner on March 5, 2024, we find ourselves in the thick of a political year filled with uncharted territory. Between now and November, we will be inundated with wave after wave of messaging and appeals. Buried under that avalanche of almost mind-numbing noise could be the bedrock of our democracy—civil discourse. In the years leading up to this election, public discourse has taken a decidedly uncivil turn, perhaps dampening private discourse along the way.
But don’t lose heart. There is a place where discourse can be civil. Radius Book Group welcomes diverse points of view and encourages healthy debate, while championing civil discourse. It’s okay for people to disagree. All we ask is that they grant one another a bit of respect in the process. Authors and publishers can determine how we communicate our perspectives and express our disagreements. Free speech doesn’t mean anything goes or everything is acceptable. But censoring one opinion or its opposite stymies the discourse that free speech is supposed to enrich. That’s why Radius publishes authors with widely divergent perspectives, beliefs, political opinions, and ways of thinking.
Part of our job is to help authors present their ideas as clearly, cogently, and persuasively as possible, without crossing the line into uncivil discourse. Spewing hate speech and inflammatory rhetoric indiscriminately at people is uncivil, because it does not invite discourse; its aim is merely monologue, not dialogue. When we publish titles from across the spectrum of thought and opinion, we invite people on all sides to hear and be heard. The goal is engagement, enticing people to be open to new ideas, rather than inciting them to tear apart our society. We want to stimulate new thinking, based on new information or new ways of synthesizing old information. That is how we advocate for free speech and civil discourse at the same time.
If you are an author that wants to express your ideas to a diverse audience and join a rich dialogue and wide-ranging civil discourse, Radius Book Group would love to hear from you.