What do we do now?
In recent times, polarization around political beliefs and affiliations has reached an unprecedented level. People have alienated friends and family over the differences in opinion and support for a particular candidate or party. Many celebs or popular personalities have come out and taken a stand - and nearly all of them have faced the anger of people who disagree with them. From people boycotting the products of New Balance to criticism of Meryl Steep's acting - we have seen it all.
While speaking up and talking about important topics passionately is necessary for a democracy - we need to stop the divide from widening. This is the reason I was not happy with Eminem's rap against President Trump. Eminem ended his rap by saying, "..if you can't decide, who you should stand beside, I'll do it for you with this - F*** YOU!". While I understand his frustration with what Trump has said and done, isn't it stopping us from getting anything done? Isn't this causing more people to point fingers at people on the other side? Yes, it indeed is.
That begs the question: What do we do now? How do we ensure that this divide does not widen?
Firstly, we must accept that someone's support for a particular candidate or party does not mean they agree with every statement made (or action performed) by that candidate or party. Even someone like President Obama, who is widely respected as a good president made a blunderous decision to invade Libya in 2011. He himself admitted this - but that does not stop millions of other supporters from admiring the former President.
Similarly, while I don't personally agree with almost anything that Trump has said or done so far - I do not assume that anyone who supports Trump is evil or racist. The reason(s) for supporting a particular party or individual can be complex - and there is probably no better example than this Illinois man who voted for Trump, but saved an illegal immigrant from deportation (watch from 29:21 to 32:44) I don't think anyone has put it any better than he did in that video - "Obviously with any politician, you don't stand with everything they preach."
In the case of Tim Grisby (the Illinois man from the video above), coal mining industry was crucial for his economic well-being and therefore he chose to vote for Trump in spite of not agreeing to some of his other policies. In today's political climate, people rush to criticize someone else or defend their own stance but it is very important to keep an open mind and hear out other people to gain a complete perspective.
Secondly, political debates and exchange of ideas need to be encouraged. People of all age group, ethnicity, economic backgrounds, and regions need to engage in thoughtful conversation about their views on controversial topics. There is no point of keeping an open mind but talking amongst echo chambers. It is important to meet and connect with people of opposing political views and one initiative I was really impressed by was, Bridging the divide. Such groups will shape for a good national conversation where people can talk about the middle ground between opposing stances, where people will learn to agree to the path of least resistance even if they don't completely agree with it.
Thirdly, we will need to constantly remind each other that by continuing to fight amongst us we are hurting ourselves. The slogan "United we stand, divided we fall" is probably most applicable today in recent history. We are in a situation where one party puts together a bill without including or informing members of the other and then the bill gets rejected after months of work being done. So many issues have not been resolved and so many bills have failed to pass due to politics like this. We will need to push senators and representatives and demand that they make progress.
Don't get me wrong - I am not saying open-minded political conversations will resolve all the issues faced by the country. There will be issues where agreements will be hard to reach. There will also be people with extremist views - but at least this will get the ball rolling in the right direction. That would be big progress - compared to the standstill the country is in at this moment.