Living in a town that’s conservative and going to a liberal school, I am placed in a position where I have wonderful, thoughtful, caring conservative friends as well as wonderful, thoughtful, caring liberal friends. However, the majority of the time my newsfeed on social media is filled with hate. Whether it be conservatives referring to liberals as “whining cry babies”, or liberals referring to conservatives as “racist, privileged idiots.” I’m writing this article because I am sick of it. I am personally an independent, so am constantly biting my tongue in most political conversations in fear of saying the wrong thing. There are many reasons why people believe the things that they do. I believe the world needs to stop automatically judging people based on their beliefs and listen to why they think the way they do and try to understand their perspective. Both parties are intelligent and informed; neither party is better, or superior to the other. They just have different views, but instead of hating someone for what they believe, perhaps get to know their reasons why.
For example, someone who is pro-life could have been struggling to have a baby their entire life and couldn’t, this is why they feel that the second a woman becomes pregnant, it is a gift and they should not get an abortion. However, another person who is pro-choice could be 16 years old and was raped, and they want to have control over what they do in that situation, being that having control over things is something that is a lot more difficult than it seems. There is also the fact that the majority of things placed on social media are biased. It is extremely important that when you are looking at politics, you are informing yourself on various news outlets, to make sure you are getting the correct story, and seeing all forms of it.
Living in America is great. I am proud to be an American. However, we are dividing this country in half with all the hate toward people who’s opinions are different than your own. I am not telling you to stop marching, or stop posting because this is America and you have the freedom to do that, which is awesome! But I am asking that you take a second and listen to people whose opinions are different than yours, instead of filling your mind with hateful thoughts about them. Nobody is better than anybody. We are all different. We need to start loving each other and listening to each other and stop judging and hating one another based off political beliefs. America is a country I want to be driven off love and understanding for one another, and I am asking you, as an American to start spreading that message along with me.
