The current political culture in the United States is simply nauseating. Both our parents as well as ourselves all grew up in a climate where politics, and politicians in particular, are very disliked and not trusted. This distrust and dislike boiled over in our recent presidential election. There were two very untrustworthy and disliked people who were running to represent the United States. One could see from miles away the trouble that would come after the election given the fact that half of the country wanted their candidate to win and hated the other. When President Trump won, it was the spark that lit the powderkeg, much like the spark that ignited World War I. While the outcome of the election was not as extreme as a World War I, the effects that we are feeling today feel like we have just ended a long and painful war.
One of the first things that came out of this election was an even greater divide between both political parties. In the months leading up to November 8th, and still today, the terms “liberal” and “conservative” have been used more as derogatory terms rather than ways to describe one’s political views. People no longer respect those whose opinions are different from theirs. People simply yell things such as, “You’re a liberal,” and, “Such a conservative,” as if they are casting someone off because of their political views. For example, there is a student in my government class who loves to say, “Oh, what a bunch of liberals,” or, “What a liberal thing to say.” There are a variety of political views in my class but the use of phrases such as these is simply infuriating. The fact that someone does not have the dignity to respect someone else’s views and the decency to politely disagree with them is disgusting. For those of you who think that it is only people our age who do this, you are sadly mistaken.
All someone needs to do is turn on the television or overhear someone’s dinner conversations, and they will see that this practice of using someone’s political identification in a derogatory way has become commonplace. People don’t want to talk about their political views because they are afraid of what people will say about them or how they will be labeled, especially if that person’s views cross over the political spectrum at points. For example, someone like myself who is generally located in the middle of the political spectrum might support policies such as immigration law enforcement to prevent illegal immigration. To someone who only hears things as liberal or conservative, I would be automatically considered a conservative because one of my views is close to the right. This is the frustration that people feel nowadays. They are labeled by one view or comment they make when in reality their views may be totally different. People are now hastily being put into general categories such as liberal and conservative with no middle ground and with each side using the other’s name in a derogatory way.
While some may squawk at President Trump’s claims that the news media is biased, it might be worth it to look a little deeper. Is all of the media biased? No, but the networks who do exert a bias either one way or the other are helping to fuel our current political situation. Those networks who exhibit an inherent bias, mainly Fox News and MSNBC with their opinion shows in primetime, are further pushing the wedge between the two parties and ends of the political spectrum. Shows on these two networks seem to look for ways to differ themselves from whichever party they are opposing. If they would simply worry about reporting the news in an unbiased way instead of allowing opinion-based shows to push their political views, then the news would be watchable and not be so angering to those who do not agree with the views being presented. Now that I have discussed the ways in which the American political system is royally screwed up, let me offer two ways in which we can help change the political discord.
The first major way we can change the political culture in our country is to stop talking about politics. Yes, our political views are important, but it is time to finally stop talking about them. The topic of every single conversation that we have does not need to be about our political views. We can go back to having substantive conversations about how our lives are going instead of always complaining about the government or politics. The best practice would be to zip-up our political talk when we walk out the door in the morning and then unzip our opinions in the comfort of our own homes. We should only talk about politics with people who we know respect our opinions and avoid conversations with people who we know are inconsiderate of those who do not hold their same views. The second major way we can change our political culture may sound a bit blunt, but it will work.
We need to grow thicker skin! One huge contributing factor to political polarization is the anger that people feel when they are labeled as liberal or conservative. When people feel they are wrongly labeled, they tend to get angry and then get into politically-motivated fights with the person who is labeling them. We have bigger fish to fry than to worry about how people view us. People need to be confident in their political views and not let anyone make them feel bad about the way they think. We as people are entitled to our own views and we are allowed to think whichever way we want; therefore, allowing those who tell us otherwise to get under our skin is foolish and a waste of our time. We ought to focus on issues that matter such as college and living our lives instead of participating in petty, meaningless fights. One acronym that used to be popular is YOLO which means, “You Only Live Once.” That saying is so important here. It is true that we only live once, and we should spend that time hanging out with our friends and enjoying ourselves rather than continuing to degrade and admonish those who do not agree with us politically. Friendships and relationships may only be around for a limited amount of time, but leaving politics out of the equation will help make our friendships last longer and allow us to better form relationships with one another as friends and as a society.