Last week I read an article titled “I finally stepped out of my progressive bubble—and now I understand why people hate “the liberal elite”. ” In her article, Annalisa Merelli talked about stepping outside of her liberal “bubble” and what she learned from it. She talked about a recent vote on a referendum for the Italian government, this forced the Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to resign after the constitutional referendum failed.
Merelli talked about her “blue feed” on Facebook and how many friends and colleagues posted statuses and comments that condemned the vote as a failure of democracy, fearing it may set the country backwards socially. Merelli was forced out of her liberal bubble because she had voted “no” when so many of her liberal friends voted “yes.” She went on to say that: “In so much of what I read, there was a tone of odious condescension, the idea that us no voters were perhaps too simple minded or too uninformed to really grasp the situation.” She followed up with:
“As an opinionated citizen with consistently liberal views, I am used to being attacked and insulted by conservatives for my choices and opinions. But the liberal critiques I read weren’t so much attacking my decision as they were questioning my intelligence and my ability to understand the issue.
For the first time in my life, I was on the outside of the so-called liberal bubble, looking in. And what I saw was not pretty. I watched as many of my highly educated friends and contacts addressed those who disagreed with them with contempt and arrogance, and an offensive air of intellectual superiority.”
Annalisa Merelli made a plea to liberals, to be more open-minded; her article finished with: “Liberals may be heavily represented in the media, the centers of culture (popular, and otherwise), and in academia. But unless we are able to start learning how to talk to people unlike us, we’ll likely keep losing. It is not the only reason for the current political polarization—but it is one we can all work to address.”
I would like to believe that both Republicans and Democrats in America can accept that there are members of both parties attacking the opposite side, just as there are members on either side looking to work with the other party to achieve their goals. Merelli asked her fellow liberals to be less condescending and stop attacking conservatives personally using ad hominem attacks. These are some of the main reasons she discovered that explain why certain people hate the “liberal elite.” So it occurred to me: why do people have a similar disdain for staunch conservatives?
Stepping out of the conservative bubble was not an easy task. I saw many attacks suggesting that Republicans are ignorant, insensitive towards many and that they had just about every social phobia possible. But I was able to see how non-conservatives view the GOP. I cannot say that if Republicans do not change they will keep losing because they now have a majority in both houses of Congress and their candidate in the White House.
So, my plea to my Republican Congressmen, like that which Annalisa Merelli made to liberals, is to be more open-minded, no one wins in gridlock, but a simple majority does not always produce the best results. Republicans may have a unified government, but there is still another half of America that has a right to have their voices heard.
If you stand by small government then take that stance, do not create more regulation that places limits on citizens’ decisions, but instead protect all of their rights equally. If to spend less is the desire, then cut what is in excess first. But most of all, please work with your fellow representatives in order to better those who elected you and those that did not vote in your favor. My hope is that all conservatives may keep an open mind as well. We must have conversations that further each other’s perspectives. Focusing on our “red feed” or our “blue feed” centralizes ideas and may turn away others who are willing to change their mind. More importantly, this centralized feed does not allow us to expand our own knowledge concerning our government, our fellow Americans and the issues we face everyday in our lives. Finally, at a time of divisiveness and political polar opposites in America, constructive conversations will benefit all involved. We need to put an end to the false dichotomy of political views in America. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
-A hopeful citizen
