Can’t We Have Anything Nice?

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>This chapter sets the stage for the book, establishes the author’s bona fides as a longtime participant in the same-sex marriage debate, and makes the case that we have a crisis in discourse across moral and political divides. It explains the costs of that crisis, detailing how tribalism—defined as extreme loyalty to one’s own group and corresponding suspicion of other groups—makes it harder to solve shared problems. Drawing on social-science research from Dan Kahan, it details how “motivated reasoning” overrides evidence in favor of groupthink. It illustrates these challenges via a case study of philosophy professor Rebecca Tuvel’s Hypatia article “In Defense of Transracialism,” which generated a social media firestorm.</jats:p>