How do we think about hate speech and extremism and how do we bridge the partisian divide?" asked Georgetown University Professor Haroon K. Ullah.

These are the questions that these two men are trying to answer. Because, as they see it, we need answers, fast. 

"We have too many of these shootings and it's just not acceptable for us to sit there and do nothing," W2O Group Senior Advisor Bob Pearson. 

Two weeks ago at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue, 11 people were shot down. And just this week, Swatiskas were found spray painted at Binghamton high school. All the while politics is devised by slanderous, heated rhetoric. 

"Negative campaign ads, whether its here or abroad, don't actually work," said Ullah. 

In their book "Countering Hate," the authors explore how negative ads cause something they call backfire effect. The ad exposes a persons existing assumption, only strengthening it. Thus the ad doesn't work.

"When you're looking at people who are progressing in a pretty hateful way, think of the Tree of Life shooting, these are folks who leave a pretty long trail," said Pearson. 

It also explores how prepatrators of hate often leave a trail with previous crimes, mental health issues and on the web. These researchers ask that if we see the signs earlier, should we, as a society, intervene earlier?

All these questions to find the kind of answers that can help us help each other. 

"There are many ways that when you're twenty years old, you can make a difference in life, and you can set the tone for being a great leader in life," said Pearson.