_Brandon Bartlett is a sophomore political science major at MU. He is an opinion columnist who writes about politics for The Maneater._
We live in a world where having a calm conversation about politics can almost only be done with someone you agree with, where an outraged mob on social media is a common occurrence, where we try to destroy our political adversaries rather than try to see their point of view.
I, for one, cannot stand this constantly outraged culture where political pundits try to scream over each other on TV and comment sections are filled with character assassinations rather than reasoned and well-thought-out debate.
I don’t think we should all agree on the issues because that is impossible, but there are some things we can all do so that we can actually talk to each other and not at each other.
Mainly, we need to accept that just because someone disagrees with us it does not mean they are a bad person. Both sides of the political aisle constantly try to label the other side as a bad person because of their opinions, and it does absolutely nothing to further an honest debate. It is so important to not assume the worst of people.
A good example of this is the debate surrounding economic policy in the U.S.
I think that capitalism is the the one and only economic system for the U.S. This is not because I hate poor people and don’t care about people who can’t afford health care, as some would believe, but rather because it seems to me that the government should ensure economic freedom rather than economic safety.
While I strongly believe this, I do not think that those who disagree with me, such as socialists or communists, are automatically horrible people who want to overthrow all of the people in the upper class. They probably think that the government should be more concerned about making sure that each and every person is equally as prosperous, rather than ensuring that people with marketable skills and ideas have the means to be prosperous.
People also often do this when they argue over the Second Amendment, which is most commonly done after a national tragedy, like a school shooting.
The left will often claim that advocates of the Second Amendment as people who care about their guns more than they do the lives of children and the right normally claims that gun-control proponents are politicizing dead kids to try and take away guns.
I’m sure there are some people on both sides who fit these roles. However, I assume that most Second Amendment advocates, think that more gun control will only affect law abiding citizens, leaving them defenseless. I would also assume that most proponents of gun control don’t want to politicize the deaths of children, but rather want to talk about an important issue in hopes of stopping a future mass shooting.
We all need to realize that the vast majority of people want the world to be a better place and there is no point in getting angry and insulting someone just because they disagree on what that world looks like.
Another thing we need to all realize is that opinions that are not our own are not inherently wrong.
Being a Christian, I believe that there is one God who is all-knowing. Since I am not God, I am 100 percent certain that there are things I believe to be true that are not. Being that no one else is an all-knowing divine being either, there are things that we all believe that aren’t correct either.
Even if you don’t believe in a higher being, just take into consideration how unlikely it is that any person would be right about everything. Being right about everything would require you to know everything. So before even thinking about discussing political issues, just accept that there is a chance you are wrong.
The exchange of ideas is possibly the most important part of our society. All ideas, no matter how controversial, should be heard. After all ideas are heard, considered and debated, we can dismiss those that are evil and elevate those which are great.
It can be challenging to face ideas that you don’t believe are true, especially when it ends up that those ideas are true. The only way to really know is to honestly, openly listen to other ideas and justify why yours are better.