Liberals aren’t as liberal as they say they are.
Confused?
Of course they’re liberal. They accept everyone. Blacks, whites, Muslims, Jews, immigrants, straight, gay– they accept everyone.
And that’s what liberal is right? Accepting everyone and loving everyone and being a caring bubble of love and unity.
Well, partially.
According to Libertarianism.org, liberals believe in individual rights and the importance of fulfilling natural talents. In more modern terms, liberals believe in social equality to ensure equal opportunities for everyone.
For many living in the “Bay Area Bubble,” being liberal means accepting people because the opposite means rejecting people from certain opportunities.
And that’s where the stigmatization begins.
Under political leadership this past year, the word “Republican” has come to be associated with extremely conservative promises– halting Muslim immigration, building a border wall, and defunding Planned Parenthood, to name a few. In addition, these promises have come to be associated with President Trump himself, an issue for those who voted on him based off of his more accepting ideologies, such as increasing funding for veterans experiencing PTSD and working with Congress to lower the cost of education for college students.
As a result of hasty association, many who oppose the policies are beginning to view conservative mindsets as close-minded or exclusionary.
In fact, in a Pew Research Center study, 68 percent of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents found it “stressful and frustrating” to talk to people with positive opinions of President Trump. In the same study, 35 percent even said a friend’s support for Trump would strain their ability to be friends with that person.
So, how can a liberal– one who is open-minded and accepting of individual freedoms– truly call him or herself a liberal if they are excluding an entire group from the acceptance? Political preference is an individual freedom, yet conservatives and Trump supporters are becoming ostracized based on generalizations made by the media.
The 68 percent of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents who are too stressed by the idea of talking to a Trump supporter to ever approach one have created a divide in the American population that has grown to the point of complete polarization in some aspects.
In September, San Francisco witnessed this polarization in full effect as far-right groups, more commonly known as the alt-right, planned to protest the lack of freedom of speech they were experiencing as a result of far-left groups, such as Antifa, denouncing their ideals and beliefs.
But Democrats aren’t the only ones to blame.
According to the same Pew Research Center study, 52 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaners said talking to someone who opposed their political views would stress them out.
Clearly, nobody wants to hear their side be rebutted. Nobody wants to hear that their favorite candidate is problematic, either.
Democrats don’t want to hear that former president Barack Obama was the one who got the ball rolling on banning immigration, and Republicans must be tired of hearing how Trump is a misogynistic racist.
In parallel, nobody wants to admit their ideas may not be the only correct ones.
There are many ways to approach foreign affairs– Democrats tend to lean toward being involved in global politics, while Republicans lean in the other direction, according to a Pew Research Center survey.
However, chances are that if you believe one side, you probably won’t see the point in listening to why the other side believes the opposite.
As a result, the two sides have stopped communicating, and nobody is talking.
But everyone is yelling.
Instead of fighting protest with protest, as Charlottesville, Boston, San Francisco, and Berkeley have seen, there should be room for free speech and room for acceptance.
As a nation, we are extremely polarized, and fighting fire with fire only adds to the fire.
Granted, there will always be radicals who want to exterminate whole demographics and other radicals who want to exterminate the exterminators, but those who hold an educated opinion are entitled to having it heard. However, those people are usually drowned out by extremists, so their ideas are overlooked.
Maybe you have a valid reason as to why you believe immigration should be more restricted, but your seat partner in math may have just as valid a reason to believe it shouldn’t.
So, next time someone posts on Facebook about their support for an issue you don’t believe in, instead of immediately unfriending them and texting your group chat about how awful that person is, try to start a conversation instead.
Chances are, that person has something to educate you on.
Confused?
Of course they’re liberal. They accept everyone. Blacks, whites, Muslims, Jews, immigrants, straight, gay– they accept everyone.
And that’s what liberal is right? Accepting everyone and loving everyone and being a caring bubble of love and unity.
Well, partially.
According to Libertarianism.org, liberals believe in individual rights and the importance of fulfilling natural talents. In more modern terms, liberals believe in social equality to ensure equal opportunities for everyone.
For many living in the “Bay Area Bubble,” being liberal means accepting people because the opposite means rejecting people from certain opportunities.
And that’s where the stigmatization begins.
Under political leadership this past year, the word “Republican” has come to be associated with extremely conservative promises– halting Muslim immigration, building a border wall, and defunding Planned Parenthood, to name a few. In addition, these promises have come to be associated with President Trump himself, an issue for those who voted on him based off of his more accepting ideologies, such as increasing funding for veterans experiencing PTSD and working with Congress to lower the cost of education for college students.
As a result of hasty association, many who oppose the policies are beginning to view conservative mindsets as close-minded or exclusionary.
In fact, in a Pew Research Center study, 68 percent of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents found it “stressful and frustrating” to talk to people with positive opinions of President Trump. In the same study, 35 percent even said a friend’s support for Trump would strain their ability to be friends with that person.
So, how can a liberal– one who is open-minded and accepting of individual freedoms– truly call him or herself a liberal if they are excluding an entire group from the acceptance? Political preference is an individual freedom, yet conservatives and Trump supporters are becoming ostracized based on generalizations made by the media.
The 68 percent of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents who are too stressed by the idea of talking to a Trump supporter to ever approach one have created a divide in the American population that has grown to the point of complete polarization in some aspects.
In September, San Francisco witnessed this polarization in full effect as far-right groups, more commonly known as the alt-right, planned to protest the lack of freedom of speech they were experiencing as a result of far-left groups, such as Antifa, denouncing their ideals and beliefs.
But Democrats aren’t the only ones to blame.
According to the same Pew Research Center study, 52 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaners said talking to someone who opposed their political views would stress them out.
Clearly, nobody wants to hear their side be rebutted. Nobody wants to hear that their favorite candidate is problematic, either.
Democrats don’t want to hear that former president Barack Obama was the one who got the ball rolling on banning immigration, and Republicans must be tired of hearing how Trump is a misogynistic racist.
In parallel, nobody wants to admit their ideas may not be the only correct ones.
There are many ways to approach foreign affairs– Democrats tend to lean toward being involved in global politics, while Republicans lean in the other direction, according to a Pew Research Center survey.
However, chances are that if you believe one side, you probably won’t see the point in listening to why the other side believes the opposite.
As a result, the two sides have stopped communicating, and nobody is talking.
But everyone is yelling.
Instead of fighting protest with protest, as Charlottesville, Boston, San Francisco, and Berkeley have seen, there should be room for free speech and room for acceptance.
As a nation, we are extremely polarized, and fighting fire with fire only adds to the fire.
Granted, there will always be radicals who want to exterminate whole demographics and other radicals who want to exterminate the exterminators, but those who hold an educated opinion are entitled to having it heard. However, those people are usually drowned out by extremists, so their ideas are overlooked.
Maybe you have a valid reason as to why you believe immigration should be more restricted, but your seat partner in math may have just as valid a reason to believe it shouldn’t.
So, next time someone posts on Facebook about their support for an issue you don’t believe in, instead of immediately unfriending them and texting your group chat about how awful that person is, try to start a conversation instead.
Chances are, that person has something to educate you on.