Conservative....Liberal....How about we focus first on being a person

Second Nature

A great often when politics or social issues emerge in conversation, our human instinct is to label. Labeling and categorizing is a phenomenon, a survival instinct that has accompanied humans since our existence. Whether it is a group of food, animals, fellow humans, we have used labels and groups to understand friendly, or sometimes unfriendly aspects of our environment. This basic instinct is quite beneficial and helps the human mind compartmentalize and process information. These associations are difficult to forget, reverse, or counter.

If you were told that a orange was now a vegetable tomorrow, how long would it take you to instinctually call it a vegetable?

Old Habits Die Hard

This response to stimuli pours into our daily interactions, associations and politics. This is damaging in politics and social issue discussions, not only because being associated with one political affiliation can be so polarizing, but the many assumptions and associations that come with it. As soon as that label is spewed forth, it makes it exponential more difficult to agree on even the most basic of issues. It sets up the argument or discussion more as two sides. With each other trying to convince the other they're better. You think a Bears fan is going to sway a Packer fan? A Yankee, a Red Sox? The two individuals involved might have reality similar thoughts, but competitive primal nature of an opposite group, makes those similarities difficult to find.

Blind Spot

Even when political affiliation isn't mentioned right of the back. A stance on abortion will get a person cast into a party. A view on religious freedoms or guns will also cause people to categorize. The truth is, just like people, opinions come on all forms and variation. Many of the smartest people I know have no, or weak political affiliation. Why? Because it counters the ability to think critically, rationally and change opinions about a topic if one is strongly aligned to a belief.

Now, I don't mean to pick on Evangelical Christians, but they are the most recent example of this coming into play. There were allegations in a Washington Post article about his advances and sexual encounters with teenage girls when he has serving as assistant district attorney in his thirties. The fourteen year old girl told two friends during the time and they corroborate it completely. Two other girls, one above 18 and non of which know each other also documented their encounters. I would recommend reading the whole article. Is there any way to truly prove these 100% true, no. These are serious allegations though and it is important to think critically about them. Now, I will not delve into the discussion about it here, but I will point out a poll conducted after news of these allegations arose 37% of evangelical voters said they would support Roy Moore in the senate race more if the allegations were true That is the power of these labels we acquire and how it can entrench us against all logic, reason, and decency.

Fight the Tide

People when discussing politics, need not fall into this team mentality. Let each issue or subject that is brought up in a discussion be thought of independently using personal experience, knowledge, facts. People need to avoid generalities sweeping associations or statements. It is difficult, but individuals who truly care and want to learn are apt to do this. It is also okay to be wrong. Ignorance is not being wrong, It is not listening, caring or adjusting when you are wrong.
Listening to listen and think, not to respond is imperative. Nothing gets accomplished when instead of absorbing what another person says, the mind if contemplating on what to rebuke.

So what's the point of this? Just some ranting into the oblivion of the internet, probably, but we can progress so much further if people were able to take a different approach to issues and politics. If people were able to acknowledge that something they previously thought, might be wrong. I sure hope not everyone agrees and has one thought stream, but this isn't a sports teams were discussing, it's peoples lives and rights, we have to approach it differently.

Peace steemians