Whether it be by avidly watching the news, learning from their parents, listening to the radio, or regularly reading the newspapers, everyone comes to their own political conclusions and beliefs in one way or another. No matter how someone acquires their beliefs, they should be respected. I have noticed that younger generations have recently taken to belittling the beliefs of others when their beliefs tend to identify similarly with those of their family members.
In recent years, there has been a stigma around “getting” one’s political views from other people they may know, particularly family members. The claim here is that your beliefs aren’t true if they’ve been impressed upon you by others. There have been a few too many times I’ve heard someone say, “Oh, you only believe that because your parents told you.” What I could never understand about comments such as this is why someone’s beliefs should be undermined simply because of the means of which they ar to those beliefs.
I would like to point out that I have heard comments similar to that quoted above from people across the entirety of the political belief spectrum surrounding the idea that learning your political beliefs from your parents is wrong. The underlying tone of these comments, that I have perceived, is often that one who has the same or similar beliefs as their families or loved ones is uneducated on political matters. I have also perceived these comments as insinuating that their beliefs are the same as their parents because they were indoctrinated in them from a young age. Yes, I have witnessed someone claim that another was indoctrinated in their political views simply because said views aligned with those of their parents.
So, when did it become such a negative anomaly for young people to have similar beliefs as their parents? Why wouldn’t our political views align with those of our families? For most people, we live most of our young lives in very close proximity to our loved ones, so it would be absurd to think that the presence of our parents, brothers, sisters, etc. wouldn’t influence our minds.
Regardless of whether or not we agree with someone else’s political views and stances, everyone deserves respect and a chance to speak their mind. Politics is one of those topics that has the potential to fall flat without the possibility of open and productive conversation. Conversation between people with opposing views is the roadway to expanding the minds of others, and without this roadway we are unable to learn from each other.
Learning from other people, no matter what the topic or the relationship to the people you are learning from, is part of what makes us human. Humans are innately social creatures. Civil discussion and the sharing of ideas is what separates us from animals and what allows our populations to collaborate and thrive. So, why is branching our own beliefs off of those of our loved ones such a bad thing?
Learning is a process, so as long as we are taking the information we receive from those around us and furthering our knowledge through some semblance of our own research and curiosity, then whoever influences our initial views should be irrelevant to others. The only aspect of another person’s political views that we should be concerned with, as individuals, is whether or not other people are willing to have a conversation with someone that has beliefs variant of their own. So long as people are willing to have productive conversations that promote the sharing of knowledge with others, the root of our beliefs should not interfere with our respect for other human beings.