Just before bed I signed on to Facebook to catch up on friends and family. I often see posts or pictures of a political nature there or on Google+ and it sparked a conversation with Brent that kept him up even later.
I find myself increasingly frustrated with people who, rather than discuss real policy or affect meaningful change, simply want to mud-sling and name-call those with differing views. Or worse, people who spend no real time studying the topic at hand and instead parrot the uninformed (or intentionally misleading) media.
I have a few requests to make of my friends, family and society at large.
Read at least 2 articles on a subject (preferably of opposing views) before thinking you know the story.
If you really think that the Huffington Post is going to present the same story as the Washington Post, you've got another thing coming. Doesn't wisdom require that you hear both sides of an argument before deciding where you stand? Even better, listen to MSNBC and Fox News back to back and see what crumbs of truth you can get from those sources.
Think how much time you spend reading product reviews before you buy something, deciding if the price is right, or if you can trust the claims made by the company. Don't you always price check to make sure you're getting the best deal possible? And yet we read one snippet from the media company of our choice and swallow it like kool-aid unaware that there may be better information out there.
Be skeptical of EVERY political statement made. Both sides have agendas, can you see it?
It is so frustrating when I hear people talk about the government being in the pocket of the big businesses on the right while conveniently leaving out mention of the big unions on the left. I'm not saying I support either but I'm not under some delusion that all the people of my party are working for the good of humanity, and neither are all of yours.
When I listen to proponents of conservatism rail on someone at Occupy Wall Street for being uneducated after playing a 10 second sound byte, I am fully aware that they picked the dumbest sounding 10 seconds and probably took it out of context to make their point. Liberals play the same game! Don't believe everything you hear. Better yet, believe nothing without proof. Search your heart, do your research and be just as skeptical of people who agree with you as those who do not.
Stop all the name calling, class and party warfare and finger pointing. That is just promoting ignorance.
When I was young, my father taught me to refer to people not by their political parties(democrat or republican) but by their ideas and views (conservative or liberal). All Republicans are not always and only conservative and all Democrats are not always and only liberal. The point of this was to avoid creating a us/them feeling and to allow people to support what they believe in not just a party line. So if I call you a liberal or even a socialist please don't take it as an insult, I don't mean it as one.
Today, however I often feel so frustrated by people who take no time in listening to people and immediately group them into us's and them's. We are told that we should be divided according to beliefs, income, race or what party we are registered for. That all conservatives must be rich or that all blacks must be liberals. Why are we allowing this? I find this most frustrating! Are we really back in a school yard where people we are different from are subject to name calling? I thought we were trying to stop bullying? All this does is discourage people from making their own decisions because they are too afraid to be judged. What we need is an environment where discussion is encouraged without insults being flung from both sides.
Both of these pictures were posted in the last 24 hours by different friends of mine. They are both mindless caricatures of something that is so much bigger and more complicated than either can hope to convey.
I find this:
just as ignorant and irritating as this:
Which brings me to my next point:
I may believe Obama is not making good choices for our country, I also believe he has done some skeevy things to push through legislation. I do not, however believe he is trying to topple the country. I bet he probably doing his best to do what he thinks is right. He is a person with emotion and feeling and experience that has led him to make those choices. I hope those choices are more about conscience than about money.
Please give conservatives the same benefit of the doubt. Yes, I know there are jerks out there on both sides of the spectrum who care more about their own gain than the harm they are doing to others, but they are not the rule they are the exception! Of all my friends and family from various political parties if find them to be educated, thinking and to really care about what they believe in. To conservatives: Liberals are not all uneducated hippies who want a socialist state. To Liberals: Conservatives are not all uneducated, gun happy cowboys who want to crush the little guy in their quest for riches. We are all people who are doing our best for what we believe is right. We need to humanize the discussion.
Don't assume that someone who disagrees with you is either evil or stupid.
I hope I don't need to expound. Enough said. This should apply to all parts of life, not just politics.
I am not pretending that I wake up every morning and read 4 different papers and listen to NPR all the time. But I do try. And I don't go around commenting on something I don't understand. It's actually really scary for me to make political comments sometimes because even after reading about something I'm afraid I may not have all the information and a rarely trust any single source on anything.
The point I am trying to make is simply that the truly educated listen before they think, and then they speak.
