We live in a turbulent political climate to say the least. A rapid burst of terrorist attacks and political scandals has led to never ending exposure to the seething underbelly of politics. Instead of opening a dialogue for discussion and growth, vocal members of our leadership have turned to blaming and villainizing anyone they disagree with.

Typically, any coverage on popular news channels is approached by using identity groups. Everything is simplified to a single group of people: Liberal and Conservative, Alt-Right and Social Justice, Democrats and Republicans. Everything is simplified into a group of villains against a group of heroes and that is a major problem.

People aren’t simple enough to be bundled together into good and evil. This isn’t a comic book or a Disney movie where you can identify who the bad guy is by his crooked nose and terrifying laugh. To make things even worse, every news outlet paints a different group as the bad guy or as the villain every time a new political event occurs.

No group of people fits snuggly into a category. You can’t make a list of everything a conservative will believe because every conservative develops differently. You can’t categorize everyone who supports President Trump without taking the time to understand why they support him.

Even groups that consider themselves liberal have fallen into a pit of toxicity. Many are refusing to open a dialogue outside of their own beliefs. How can equality be discussed if the discussion only happens on one side?

The blaming and villainizing needs to stop. The political party that you disagree with isn’t the Devil or the bad guy. They are the same as you, holding an opinion that they developed over time and through their experiences. Just as your beliefs can’t be generalized to fit a stereotype, neither should theirs.

Having your own opinion is fine. Disagreeing with someone’s opinion is also fine. However, you shouldn’t generalize a group because of the opinions of a single person, even if it seems at first glance that the entire group has crooked noses and a strange affinity to creepy laughs.