How to Have a Civil Conversation

Emily Kingsley
Oct 2, 2020 · 6 min read

Even when it feels impossible.

Photo by Zdeněk Macháček on Unsplash

In 1846 the British Parliament passed an act called the Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Act. The idea behind it was that it was bad to keep piles of human shit in your basement and to leave animal carcasses in the streets. These things released bad smells, or miasmas, which were thought to cause disease.