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Wed 23 Jan, 2019 06:25 pm
If a Native American veteran in a red "Make America Great Again" hat confronted a 16 year old kid in a pink knit "Woman's march" hat... which side would you take?
This thread is not about any specific instance... it is about ideological prejudice. In these events people look at a single picture, read a headline. Then they make a strongly emotional reaction without much thought. They don't question their initial reaction, and they the facts don't matter at all.
Both sides of our ideological divide do this.
An honest look beyond ideological prejudice means acknowledging that both sides are saying things that are true.
- Yes, Native American communities still face historical discrimination.
- Yes, doxxing a 16 year old kid, attempting to ruin his academic future and making death threats against is family is inappropriate.
- Yes, these kids should have walk away from the crazy groups.
- Yes, The Native American in this case has a history of getting into confrontations with people.
- Yes, minorities want our society at large to acknowledge historical and societal prejudice and injustice that continues.
- Yes, teenagers (of any race) want to be kids and can't be expected to always understand the topic of justice.
The challenges to civil discussion are
1) To question your own beliefs and to recognize when people on your own side are being irrational or illogical (and yes, both sides of our ideological divide do just this).
2) To be willing to listen to the actual arguments of the other side... and to honestly look at the facts that support their side of the argument.
We are so strongly divided into right and left, that people would be unable to look at the facts on both sides honestly even if they wanted to.
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