Obviously, in the past few months, politics has gotten extraordinarily heated. Democrats and Republicans are butting heads like never before, and everything has become a ~little~ more politicized. Getting into politics, whether it's on your social media or in your real life conversations, isn't a bad thing. In fact, if you feel comfortable with it, talking to your friends, family, and even Instagram followers about your political views can actually be really eye-opening and constructive. It has always been a way to express your feelings and exercise your freedom of speech. However, after seeing articles like "Sorry Not Sorry, If You Support Trump, We Can't Be Friends- And You Won't Be Missed" and "If I Unfriend You During The 2020 Election, Yes, It's Personal" , I was really shocked to see the blatant disregard for other opinions and willingness to even end friendships over them. Politics has always been a back and forth between the two parties, but lately, things just seem to have gotten out of hand. Here's 5 reasons why unfriending someone over politics is irrational, and something you'll probably regret in the long run.
1. The candidate someone supports does not define all of their views
Just because someone stands behind Joe Biden or Donald Trump, it doesn't mean that they agree with everything that they say. The same goes for political parties. Just because someone is Democratic, it doesn't mean that they have to agree with the Democrat's stance on abortion, and just because someone is Republican, it doesn't mean that they necessarily agree with the Republican's stance on immigration. Voting for a candidate tends to mean that you agree with the majority of what they say, but you can't assume that just because someone stands behind a specific candidate, they also share all of the same views.
2. There's no place for politics in your friendship
Honestly, if you're just going to disagree on things, why even talk about it? Friends are supposed to be the ones looking out for you and making you happy, not bickering with you and bringing you down. Politics sometimes may just have to be something that you agree to disagree on- kind of like how one of you likes plain pizza and the other prefers pepperoni (OBVIOUSLY there's more to it than that, but you understand where I'm coming from!).
3. Cutting someone out of your life should be a decision based on how they treat you, not who's name they're checking off on the ballot
This person is your friend for a reason. Whether they were the only one that sat next to you in the cafeteria one day at lunch, comforted you through your first heartbreak, or stood behind you when you wanted to do something that no one else believed you could do, you became friends with them because they added something to your life that wasn't there before. Does the person they're voting for really change your perception of them so drastically that you can't remember all of the joy that they have brought into your life?
4. We all want the same thing
YES, believe it or not, we are all actually aiming for the same thing this election- a candidate that we believe will make the United States a better place to live. We all want to feel like our wants and desires are being heard and acted upon in our country, and just because your friend has a different idea of which presidential candidate would better serve us, that doesn't mean that you both don't have the same end goal. Accept that their opinion is different than yours, but understand that you two aren't on totally opposing sides either.
5. There's enough anger and hate in the world
There are so many people who are angry at one another right now, the last thing that the world needs is people breaking off friendships over an election that will be behind us by November. If politics is stressing you out right now (which is true for most of us!), take out that stress on your next gym trip (or with an at-home workout if you're still in quarantine), but don't take it out on the people that you're closest to. If you can learn to look past things like politics in your life, you'll really be able to focus on what matters about the people who you surround yourself with, and that's their good intentions and loyalty to you as a friend.
