Believe it or not, the biggest problem we face today isn't Trump. He comes in a close second.
The biggest issue is us. You. Me. Your friends. Your family. The people you argue on Twitter with.
We have all established a mindset that our views are the best. Period. End of discussion. Most of us can't even consider the remote possibility that the other side might have a point.
For example what if I told you, "Guns are good. NRA is good. Everybody should be allowed to own a gun, without background checks."
Your first reaction is probably to deny it. You are probably thinking something along the lines of, "How can you even say that? Are you stupid?"
The same thing would happen if I went on The Daily Wire and told them that we should ban all ARs. They would tell me I'm retarded and call me a "libtard."
We live in a very tribalised society. We surround ourselves with people with similar political viewpoints as us. We convince ourselves that we are right and that anybody else who disagrees with us is stupid.
The problem is the more we interact with people that agree with us, the more we think we are right. The more news articles we read about our side being the right side, the more we think that it's true.
It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
They say the opposites attract, but not in politics. In politics, the opposite is always the stupid ones, the ones who want to destroy our society, the extremist.
In 2019 we have all chosen sides. There is no longer such thing as agreement or open-mindedness. Instead of asking why the person thinks the way they do, we call them idiots.
Whether it's about abortion, gun control, health care or something else, we are always quick to disagree.
The reason for that is simple. Our political beliefs and ideologies are part of our personality. Part of our beliefs. The more involved you are with politics, the closer politics is to you. No one likes being told they are wrong, and by listening to what the other side had to say, we are essentially acknowledging the fact that the other side might have a point.
Along with that is the possibility of us being wrong. Of course, we are constantly being told to open our minds. But despite that, it's increasingly easier to surround ourselves with like-minded people and ignore everyone else. With social platforms like Twitter, we can meet and discuss with other people instantly. We can filter what we see, and block opinions that we don’t agree with.
Without contact or discussion with the other side, we grow more and more sure that our opinion is the only correct one. Therefore, with everyone walling up, the divide between the two sides only grows.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and you don’t need to and shouldn’t change that. However, being accepting is key. If we are able to readily accept that opponents may have valid reasoning for their arguments, we can fix the divide that is tearing our nation apart.
That’s not to say you should agree with everything someone else says, or that you should praise them for their logic. It’s to say that you should be open to hearing their arguments, instead of automatically marking them as wrong.
Because in the end, there’s no such thing as right or wrong. It’s all in our head. Diversity is important, and the U.S. is very diverse. Unfortunately, a lot of the time, we decide to ignore those that disagree with us.
Trump definitely isn’t helping.