It’s in the heart of the convention season of politics when everyone is on the edges of their seat to silently hate the next person who says this or un-follow anyone who posts that.
I like to think of myself as generally a kind, friendly person, but political talk just pushes my buttons. I own a certain set of political beliefs that I will try not to reveal in this piece (those of you who know me probably know which side I lean) because I think that for my point it doesn't matter which side you take. However, I will admit that I do not pretend to be completely neutral on politics.
A term often used in debate and rhetoric presentation is ad hominem. It is a technique in which the speaker tries to attack the opposition instead of the opposition's argument. Most people do not realize it, but ad hominem is immediately where many people's minds jump when engaged in politics.
I have caught myself seeing a post on facebook and immediately thinking "oh, maybe they aren't as nice of a person as I thought" without bothering to think about the foundation of the opinion. I am a little ashamed to admit that because the fact that somebody disagrees with me politically certainly doesn’t mean that we cannot get along. I am working on doing everything possible to eliminate my predisposition of people based on politics and I think that everyone should do the same.
Unfortunately, I have found that it is so much easier to simply not address the issue of politics in order to avoid the conflict that results because of that topic discussion. The simple question of "who do you support in the primaries," way back in January mind you, aroused in me a monster that lost its patience in a matter of minutes. And this was a discussion with someone who I generally agreed politically with!
Society teaches that we cannot and should not have to ever be wrong. This is great. It empowers people, right? Yeah, it is great until something actually needs to get done. People who would be friends otherwise refuse to talk to each other because the United States political system has drawn an invisible line down the middle that says "if you're not with me, then you're against me."
The focus has switched from trying to fight for an issue to trying to stop the other side from gaining ground and this is because of the attacking/defending attitude that people take when addressing other parties. This transition and attitude has contributed to the polarization of the parties in politics today.
This change in personality is rooted in the norm of our society that people can believe whatever they want to because it is their right to do so. This freedom that America prides itself on seems to be tearing a democracy apart. A flawless democracy rests in a society where all of the major opinions and modes of thought are represented in the government. This certainly isn't what is happening in America today and it is because the two sides are so pitted against each other that they refuse to converse.
We can either drop the personal conflict in society and regain the democratic political ideal or continue to live in an eternal lock between the political giants. I don’t know about you, but I think it is time for a conversation to start beyond invective and ad hominem.
