It isn't hard to respect someone's lifestyle and opinions. Unless they are espousing horrific ideas like molesting children or committing genocide, I see no point in trying to tell how people how to live. I may secretly judge someone for their choices, but I'd keep those thoughts to myself and let them make their own decisions. I'd give input in certain circumstances, but I'd let them thrive or flop on their own.

The only thing that I ask is that you do the same for me.

Now, I know that it is not just one side of the political spectrum that is guilty of this. Liberal/progressives and conservatives alike routinely attack those with differing opinions. They show disdain even for people on their own side for having a thought that is remotely independent of the party platform. When the issue of gun control or immigration, I have seen nasty comments about "gun-grabbing" and being "globalist commies" coming from the right wing.

Let's look at the immigration debate. One side says that we need to abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency and have open borders because "no person is illegal". On the flip side, there are people who want the wall on the southern border built and have the Mexicans pay for it, just as President Trump promised.

Now, I'm for immigration. There are jobs that need to be filled, and as long as the person coming over goes through the right process, and assimilates into our culture, they should be allowed to come over. What I'm against is having the system be a free-for-all to the point that crossing the border illegally is the only option. Personally, I believe we need to look at our border policies, figure out how to make them actually work, and enforce them. Once that is taken care of, we can see if the process can be simplified. With a simpler process and real enforcement of our policies, we won't need the type of wall I keep hearing calls for.

If I were to post that opinion on any of my social media platforms, how much would you want to bet that I would have people calling me either a racist, a xenophobe, or a globalist who doesn't believe in rule of law? With how partisan everything is, and the benefit of being behind a screen, it would be an even money bet right there.

What's great about living in a free society is that everyone is allowed to have their opinions on issues. The downside then comes with social media becoming a cesspool of angry commenters or trolls coming in to shut the conversation down by throwing ad hominem attacks around like candy at a parade.

I think the best example of someone who tries to bring nuance into the foreground is Joe Rogan. He's had guests on his podcast that, certainly, I've agreed with. He's had guests that I wanted to rip my ears off after listening to them talk because it was the same talking points you see online in stereo. He's said things I've agreed with, and things that I haven't. He has really been hammered with the comments and personal attacks, but he doesn't care. We need more commentators like him. Of course, he is not alone in the vitriol.

Jonathan Van Ness, star of the Netflix reboot of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" came under fire on Twitter recently for daring to say that not all Republicans are racists. Chance the Rapper faced the same mob for defending Kanye West's comments about thinking for yourself and implying that not all African Americans had to be Democrats. Heck, Niki Ashton, a Ph.D. candidate in Peace and Conflict Studies was demanded to remove a tweet of what she believed one of Canada's political parties needed to do to appeal to the populace. Her crime? Making a reference to Beyonce song. Black Lives Matter Vancouver reacted by demanding Ashton remove the tweet, stating that white people are not allowed to "appropriate" anything that Beyonce says or does.

This is utter madness. Individuality is no longer tolerable. Identity politics has gotten so bad in this country, that even those who are against the idea are guilty of using them.

Libtard

Cuckservative

DemoRAT

RepubliKKKan

Special Snowflake

Trumpanzee

These are all terms I have seen slung at anyone who might disagree on certain talking points. They're all words that, sure, might be added to lexicon soon, but have no meaning. Their definitions are so fluid that the only commonality that they have is "anyone that I disagree with".

Nuance is dead. I don't know what killed it. I don't know if it will ever come back. If it does, wake me up.