There's too much hate going on in the political arena right now. Not just disagreements on budgets, policies, or candidates: There is real animosity over people holding different beliefs than those around them; like, people straight up wanting to fight each other. I was hoping to post some comments I grabbed from the Fox News website to display my point, but had to take them out because of their vile nature.
My problem isn’t that people fight, because fighting is normal. It's just people fight over everything. There was even one person who was complaining about how the new "Star Wars" movie was too “politically correct.” Really? "Star Wars" has nothing to do with politics. I'm pretty sure it's only meant to be a space opera. I don’t think J.J. Abrams was thinking, “Hey, how can I cater to liberals and make this film ultra-feminist?” This was on the Fox News website, arguing politics about a movie.
"Star Wars" isn’t the problem, though. It's instances like that that: If there's a political article about the holidays, instead of people commenting about how much they like the holidays and all of that fun stuff, it turns into an all-out war: Obama ruined the holidays, and immigrants are going to take over this country. We can't go a single day or read a single article without having a hateful agenda shoved down our throats. Everything turns into a political issue.
If all of this complaining is too politically correct, that’s fantastic! I believe in political correctness. If you disagree with it, that’s great, but there’s no reason to personally insult people. People seem to turn something that is the furthest thing from a political issue into their battleground.
It doesn't make me angry, but it used to. Political arguments, while they do have their places in society, aren't meant to interfere with everyday life, or get to the point where it becomes a detriment to the people.
I'm hated because I'm Muslim. Not because I have done anything wrong, but because some people have decided to hijack my religion. It's not my fault for what's happening, and every time something bad happens, if I don’t explicitly apologize for it, then I'm a bad person; just as bad as them. Do I care that people don’t hold the same beliefs as I do? Not really. Not at all. It's people turning every issue into a Muslim problem and sending vile and hateful attacks.
More than anything, it kills the credibility of actual political debates, because there's a growing belief that those in politics are out of touch with reality, too one-sided, or can't focus on real political issues. Part of this is because whenever people look up, they see hateful attacks flying back and forth, not calm and calculated political discussion.
The answer is tolerance. We don't have to agree with each other, but we do have to respect each other. Political discussion needs to get back to what it truly is: discussion, or scrutinizing politicians, not hateful attacks on the other party or people of a certain group. Sure arguments get heated, but political discussions need to stay political and respectful.
We have gone off the rails a little. It's time to get back on track.
