Respect. Ah, what a buzzword. It's the Golden Rule, the very glue that holds society and humanity itself together. It comes in infinitely many forms and manifests itself in every part of our daily life. It is drilled into our heads as the most valuable thing that we can give someone since the day that we began interacting with other people.
Yet lately, specifically throughout this election, this whole idea seems to have essentially been tossed out the door.
I'm not even talking about Mr. Trump and his comments about women, or about people's derogatory comments towards either candidate. I am talking about people that I know and interact with every single day, people whom I consider highly educated and people who are certainly aware of how their remarks come across.
Obviously, political discussions come up in class, and we discuss our opinions, looking for a wholesome discussion as AP students and a way to learn and grow our own belief systems. Sometimes, this comes across well. Oftentimes, one group completely dominates the other and makes their opinion seem inferior.
Staring someone down across the room, snorting under your breath, shaking your head, interrupting other people to tell them why they're wrong, glaring at them when they raise their hand to speak... all of these are aggressive, intimidating and disrespectful. At this point, they are being made to feel guilty for having a different opinion than you do, and, at this point, it ceases to be a discussion.
People should not be losing friends because they have vocalized support for Trump (seriously? They're not even 18, they can't vote anyway). People should not feel as if they cannot speak their minds in an academic setting. Nobody should be attacked because they disagree with you. You do not alone decide what is a "good opinion" versus a "bad opinion".
Understandably, everyone feels that they are more right than anyone else. After all, no one would believe in and bother to defend something that they didn't think was the best idea, right? But, even if that other person is discussing a belief that may even be offensive to you, you do not have the right to look down on that opinion and invalidate it. Explain your opinion - calmly, because the other party begins to tune you out the second that you get hysterical and they feel that you are not listening in return - and state your evidence, thesis, whatever you want to say, and then stop. Calm down. Let the other person speak.
Let the other person speak.
Let the other person speak.
Nobody's mind was ever opened from speaking only to people with the same beliefs as them. No scholar ever learned anything from debating with someone who parrots their ideas. And no one will ever question anything if everyone that they have surrounded themselves with is complacent. If you are truly in the discussion for the benefit of learning and bettering yourself, perhaps it would be best to listen instead of just talking. And it would be doubly good to listen to people whose opinions may bother you, irritate you or just plain offend you, because perhaps they have a tiny sliver of knowledge that may open the door for you to learn more, question more, think more.
And if you're going around and interacting with people only for the benefit of spreading YOUR ideas with no intention of reciprocating the respect of listening to someone else, don't be surprised when nobody else listens to you, and you get written off as rude, obnoxious and close-minded. After all, you wouldn't listen to all of those "disrespectful people" either.
