For those of you who don't know, America is incredibly divided right now. We actually have been for quite some time.
Image from this USA Herald article.
So I happen to have a lot of friends on both sides of the isle, because I personally resonate with both parties depending on the specific issue at hand. Like anyone else who cares about the fate of their country, I too can get feverishly passionate about my beliefs. I really try to listen to opposing views, but sometimes its just so overwhelmingly against my morals/beliefs that I just can't do it. I say all of this about myself because I am trying to illustrate that I get it when people have a hard time communicating with the "other side".
That being said, I've never understood people who just choose not to accept facts. I mean truth is truth right?
Thank you Pinterest
I can be as stubborn as the next guy, but when I am presented with a factual argument that debunks my own I have no choice but to evaluate and accept the new data I was obviously ignorant to and adjust my own conclusions. Right? Is this not a thing that everyone does?
Sadly, it is not.
I don't post a lot of political crap online because as I said above, my circles split party lines. No matter what I post, I'll get a ton of hell for it. I just don't want to deal with that. I prefer my political confrontations to be in person. People tend to listen better in person. So do I probably.
I do however on occasion see a friends post that needs to be checked. On both sides people love to just re-post shit they see that makes them feel good about themselves (usually by putting the other side down instead of building themselves up). When I do this, it rarely goes well.
When I say "goes well" I guess I would mean that my fact checking and informed response (because I just did a bunch of research about it) is received with acknowledgement and acceptance. I mean if you say the moon is actually made out of cheese, and I show you core sample results from the lunar landing, I would hope you would respond with a small amount of humility and possibly even acceptance of the new information your brain is processing.
Typical response is usually more like "Fuck you, you Jesus hating communist!". (That's what they mean anyway)
For the record I don't consider myself either of these things.
Anyway, usually the best reaction I get is a quiet deletion of the entire post (which I presume is to minimize the look of ignorance?), or something like what I got today. Here is what my friend posted:
I wasnt the only one who called him out on posting made up shit, but I was the one that he responded to. His response to me saying that it was fake was "Yea, but so funny given her responses last night."
So spreading lies to the masses about someone/something is OK if you don't agree with responses made about something totally different? That's pretty sound logic. I can totally see it. (Is there a sarcasm font?)
I've developed a 3 step process to help anyone in a typical political shit show online:
-1. Ask yourself if you have verified the data you are using to support your argument.
-2. Actually listen to the data your counterpart is using. Ask if it is verifiable, if so verify that too.
-3. Use all the available data to think for your damn self! Try to educate the people around you, and be OK with it if the other person has all the appropriate data and comes to a different conclusion.
-4. (Bonus step) Offer to buy that person a beer. It's amazing how sitting down over a beer can really civilize a conversation compared to having it on (enter social media platform here).
Cheers!