The project Sweden meets now continues in two parts. On the one hand, we do journalism to give different perspectives on the topics in our various news programs and in our news service SVT News, which you can find both as an app and at the address svt.se.

You are invited to participate

Step two of the project involves you - if you like. You are hereby welcome to take part in an exciting exploration of some of today's most pressing issues. It starts with going to svt.se/sverigemots, or in the SVT News app, and giving your opinion on the questions. Then you sign up for a meeting with a person who thinks opposite you.

We then give you an opportunity to meet at one of the meeting events organized by SVT at eight locations in Sweden on November 23. The idea is not that at this meeting you have to convince the other of your position, but that you meet in an exciting conversation where arguments and listening may take time.

So why are we doing this?

The answer is that we want to contribute to an even more vibrant social discussion in a broader way than we have hitherto imagined. This is in line with SVT's vision "to contribute to a Sweden where everyone is more curious and familiar".

We also hope to gain experience of the project that can develop our journalism. We want to explore if there is anything beyond today's well-rehearsed TV dramaturgy, where the polemic itself can sometimes be perceived as more important than understanding the issue.

We want to develop forms of conversation

Obviously, classic, confrontational debate will continue to be an important journalistic and political tool in its original sense: a formalized system of logical reasoning for breaking down the opponent's argument. To add a cliché has been effective ever since the ancient Greeks, but that - to continue with an understatement - is not always the result in today's debate climate.

Thus, we want to develop more forms of conversation and debate and hope to gain inspiration from the experiences people make in Sweden. At the beginning of next year we will be able to take the next step with a new TV program sprung from the project.

The reason we are doing this right now is visible daily. It is hardly possible to access a debate article or a discussion on radio or television without mentioning the word polarization. We are assumed to live in completely different bubbles depending on whether we live in a city or a rural area, whether we have money or not, whether we eat meat or not, whether we have addressed the climate as a matter of destiny or not.

How far apart are we really?

In essence, research shows that Sweden is polarized in immigration issues. A common theory is that today there is longer between those who are in favor of a globalized and liberal world order and those who want to see a nationalist and traditional social development. In fig language called the GAL-TAN scale.

And of course, many of us can certainly see and feel beyond theories that something has happened with debate and conversation. Numerous well-documented implications of social media technology and power-seeking influencers make debate issues easily driven up in emotion-based tones where extremes are exposed in a way that many people do not recognize. In reality, most people are somewhere with opinions between extremes and want to talk about . It's exciting. So the thing itself.

In that assumption, the project starts Sweden meets.

This article is part of the project Sweden meets. You can read more about the initiative on Sweden's homepage.