Political Frenzy

When on a recent trip to Ellensburg, Washington, where I will be transferring my credits to Central Washington University in the fall, my family and I ran into a group of Bush supporters who held banners reading “Support the Troops” and wielded American flags. Feeling insulted by this disingenuous attempt to ostracize those who disagree with the war and label us unpatriotic, I was compelled to engage the group, mostly senior citizens and young single men.

Before I got an attempt to voice opinions such as “How can you claim to support the troops by putting them into hostile situations? I support them by trying to bring them home without further injury or death,” I was pre-empted by a particularly liberal member of my family who - to my shock and dismay - flipped the group the bird! He continued by shouting obscenities at them and insulting their intelligence. One elderly woman who was a member of the group responded to him by saying, “I hope your mother is proud of you for flipping off an old lady.”

When I confronted my family member, he said he had done so because “those people are beyond reason. You can’t talk to them, they’re idiots.”

I am constantly frustrated by these extremely polarizing agents on both sides of issues across the spectrum of the political divide in the United States. Immediately they turn to insults and rage at dissenting opinion instead of engaging in debate and discussion. Both sides have created melodramatic worldviews and put themselves as knights in shining armor, fighting demons and dragons who threaten their fictional utopia.

My position with the war supporters was now irreconcilably compromised, and I was unable to actually engage them in discussion because they had been put into a defensive frenzy by the thoughtless and hate-filled actions of my family member. I had been stripped of an opportunity to open up discussion with people I could safely assume were intelligent and educated - living in a College town hardly lends itself to idiocy and illiteracy - who simply did not see or disagreed with my opinions.

People, you have to stop calling each other names. Nowadays it’s hard for any American to go without some knowledge of what’s going on in the world. Both CNN and FOX News run 24/7, Google News feeds itself onto our homepages, and standing at the bus affords us the opportunity to glance at that morning’s headlines. College newspapers across the nation are flourishing, and blogs like mine provide opinions from intelligent people from all walks of life. If anyone feels strongly about any subject, you can be sure they have at least some information on the subject. If they disagree with you, they probably know something you don’t. Whether or not you think that’s relevant is another story, but you’ll never know if you don’t find out.

This is a plea to everyone - stop it. Stop underestimating your fellow Americans and instead try and listen and talk to them like people, because that’s what they are. If you disagree, that’s one thing, but don’t think they dissent because of some mental inadequacy.

Liberals, Conservatives, FOX News, CNN, Google