I always see both sides
of an issue.
If two of my friends get into an argument and ask me who's right, I would likely say both of them. I can't fool myself into denying the validity possessed by the ideas of either. One friend has a good point about one part of the issue, and the other is right about another aspect. Thus, they are both right in their own way, even if they vehemently insist that only one of them can be right, and that the one who's "wrong" is obviously the biggest idiot that the world's ever seen.
Arguments like that
that never really benefit anyone.
I heard of someone who called everything said by political opponents "fake," and of someone who threw coffee at another person who politely disagreed with her about an aspect of women's rights.
Arguments like that
never really benefit anyone, either.
Arguments like that
escalate, and with the help of social media, people can wind up only following
people who support their views, which leads to confirmation bias and deeper
entrenchment in their ideas. Ideological opposition between two
ideologically-entrenched people leads to escalating tension fueled by mutual
ideological intolerance.
In other words, people don't get each other, so instead of seeking to understand each other, they go to war.
This has been going on
for centuries. The Crusades came about because Europeans believed that
Christianity was superior to all other belief systems, and refused to consider
the views of other religions.
Due to today's divisive political climate, crusaders abound on social media. The politicization of everything from pop culture to the military makes it easy for us to put on ideological blinders and consider our beliefs to be superior to all others. It is easy to metaphorically go to war, and try to convert others to our belief-system. It's easy to hurl Twitter insults at a member of an opposing political party—"Oh, I heard you are a supporter of X. You must be an idiot, otherwise you'd support Y like I do."
It's easy to lose perspective.
We are all human. Our
upbringings, along with incidents in our past, influenced the development of
our ideas and paradigms.
Without understanding someone's past, we judge his or her political views (or ideological inclinations, values, etc.) out of context. For instance, someone may support universal healthcare because his or her relative died because of an inability to afford health insurance. That does not make the person an "idiot." It makes him or her understandable.
When we learn about the experiences that influenced others' views, we can cease to see their ideological differences as a threat to ourselves. When we understand others as people, we can cease to be ideological crusaders, and we can put aside the phrase, "You're an idiot!" in favor of recognizing the merits of their ideas.
Empathy is an antidote to intolerance. If we practice it in our lives, we can see that both sides are right. And all of us can benefit.
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By Danielle R.