Reaching political nuance in dialectical polarity

[Andrey]

Hello.

I just wanted to make this post because I feel many people are getting polarized into one side or another and I think this is being done on purpose. No matter what side you're on, the masses make you agree with political points that are way off from where you stand as an individual being. I wanted to remind everyone on here to not get dragged into polarizing political points and to think critically. "Think with a hammer" as this place says.

Let's use trump winning as an example. I am glad this happened, but now I see posts by nazis and racists everywhere. Don't ask how or why, I have just started to see a lot of racism and sexism in my social media feeds and obviously these are people who are all for trump.

It's not that they are wrong necessarily, just that their approach is very crude. And it turns me off. I am an Indian and it's distressing to see a bunch of white people on the side of the person I voted for start talking smack about Indian people en masse. And this is just me. I can only imagine what other non white conservatives, female conservatives and LGBT conservatives must feel like. Lotta BS on social media. But I'm still for Trump no matter how these idiots act.

But it's hard to reach a politically nuanced perspective because sometimes it feels like the people you voted for are against you. So it really comes down to thinking with a hammer and rejecting what the masses think and forming your own opinion on any given issue.

That's all I want to say about this.

Thanks for reading.

 

[nortkee]

For me, the key to staying as objective as possible when it comes to political parties and elected leaders is making a special effort not to get wrapped up in any cult of personality and just having a "golden rule" style of thinking.

Basically, if I ever find myself getting super rah-rah or particularly perturbed about the narrative on one side of the aisle, I take a step back and try to remember times when I've seen the same messages/delivery/excuses coming from the opposite side.

The conclusion I keep coming to is that the vast majority of people's political beliefs are just fear-based reactions to things they don't understand, or things they perceive others don't understand. Anyone can justify literally anything to themselves and feel like the good guy in a sea of bad guys, because they know why they feel the way they do about whatever it is they believe or do.

By looking at people as literal energy just doing what energy does... it lowers the stakes for me and allows me to keep a relatively neutral perspective (I hope) while I try to seek the reality under the muck of subjectivity.

It's not always easy, but nothing worth doing is.

 

[Alejo]

Yep,

I think it's also useful to remember that the same ideological possession that was so easy to pinpoint on the left can and indeed does happen on the right. I think Trump wouldn't have been victorious if he hadn't appealed to that extreme section of voters who are indeed as racists as the woke crowd who can only see intersectionality.

Do I think Trump himself is a racist? I don't think so, but do a lot of people who are small-minded project some resonant ideals onto him? most certainly. Not because he's what they think he is, but because he opposed their opponents. That's what there was such a reaction to the whole visa situation, not because there isn't a discussion to be had, there's, but I daresay mostly because they went "what do you mean you don't want to expel every immigrant like I do? you're supposed to agree with me on everything!" so they were disappointed.

I suppose it's also helpful to remind ourselves that not everyone voted for Trump for the same reasons we may have, and that just because they align with us in some areas politically, it doesn't mean they actually see the world in the same way we may see it. The same is true for the opposite side who will outspokenly position themselves in favor of immigrants and diversity, but not because they actually care about them... it's just so that they may look to the outside world as though they care.

I suspect something similar happens with all the conservatives who are outspokenly against immigration and migrants. And they probably mean the abstract immigrant, most would be happy if unknown individuals got deported (or they were told were being deported) or denied entry, but not their friends or people who make their lives as easy as they are.

And it was expected, a lot of bad gets mixed in with the good.