At my school, we have two separate campuses. There is a bus that shuttles students back and forth for classes or to just get back to the dorms. The other night I took this bus to return to my dorm. Little did I know I would be crammed into it with dozens of other students like sardines. I had to stand in the aisle (a situation that rarely happens) and was not too pleased at first. Then, I began to listen to a conversation that started behind me.
Two students whom, presumably, had not met before were talking politics a row or two behind me. Now, I’ve heard many political conversations on these bus rides before. Mainly college liberals reinforcing their own deeply-ingrained beliefs with mutual reassurances and political niceties. This conversation was different.
While I only heard snippets and parts of the conversation (I was also trying to read for a class) I got the general gist of the conversation. They were mostly deliberating on the state of modern politics in America. While it wasn’t exactly clear who they voted for or even if they did, I could tell right off that they were more right-leaning. They were complaining about the rise of radical leftist groups like ANTIFA and others, while also decrying the intense partisanship that now grips our nation. One of them called this “disgusting.” Besides this they also talked about the integration process of immigrants and the mischaracterization of Christians in the media.
They were touching on some pretty dangerous topics considering where they were sitting. Usually, “open-minded”, liberal college students do not take kindly to such talk and will more often than not voice strong opinions in protest. This, surprisingly, did not happen. I don’t know if it was just dumb luck that no one spoke up, or if it was because of the other parts of the conversation that unfolded within the half-hour bus ride.
While definitely of a conservative persuasion, they held many typically “liberal” ideas as well. First off, they didn’t seem to like Trump that much. They agreed that its bad practice to disrespect the president, but they did not applaud him for much. They also agreed that women should be able to have abortions if they want to (one of them also said he was a Christian). They liked the idea of letting DACA immigrants stay in the country if they fully assimilate. All around, they each had very diverse opinions on a wide array of topics.
I suppose the point of this article is to try and bring to light that people are not inherently partisan. The world is not black and white. Each individual has their own beliefs and thoughts and philosophies, regardless of any sort of pre-subscribed group they happen to belong to. All points of view must be taken into account when looking at an issue. It is all too easy for people in the modern world (facilitated by the rise of mass media) to group people together based on their stringent characteristics that they may hold in common. The Republican party is not a monolith. The Democrat party is not a monolith. No group of people, regardless of their publicly perceived affiliation, all share in exactly the same modes of thought.
To think this would be giving into sheer ignorance. Sadly, this seems to be the state of affairs that we find ourselves in at the moment.
