Can Conversation Heal Our Country?
Almost everyday politics get brought up in some conversation between friends, family and peers I go to school with. Most of the time it's me and a friend conversing about our mutual aggravation about the current political policies affecting our lives. These conversations with friends and peers can easily turn into debates and arguments about opposing views. I've noticed sometimes my opinion on certain people change when I hear their political opinions differ from mine, which is something we have been trained to do by our divided country. The two-party system has caused a subconscious judgement or disagreement between two people with opposing beliefs. Instead we should train ourselves to participate in healthy dialogue. In the TED Talk "How Our Friendship Survives Our Opposing Politics" by Lauran Arledge and Caitlin Quattromani they express how talking, and engaging in dialogue saved their friendship (Quattromani).
Most of the time, conflict can be simply resolved by just talking. Engaging in a healthy conversation with equal listening and expressing opinion can bring people to a better understanding of the underlying issue. Lauran and Caitlin disagree on their political views, but instead of remaining frustrated with each other they decided to talk about it, which really helped. They shared their reasoning behind the things that they did, said or supported to help the other person understand. It really helped them understand where the other person was coming from instead of sitting in their anger. In order to make a relationship work between two people with political differences both people need to be able to share their feelings and actually listen to the other person. According to Jill Suttie, an author and co-founder of Living Room Conversations, a project used to open up healthy discussion over a controversial topic (Suttie).
I, for example, am not always the best at this. I’ve always been stubborn, but when it comes to my political opinions, in the past there wasn’t a lot that could be said to make me change my mind. Since, I’ve started genuinely listening to other people and some of their opposing views it’s opened my eyes to how others think and how I think too. Whenever I used to engage in conversation, my main goal was to persuade the other person to believing what I believed. Sometimes without even realizing I was doing it. Healthy conversation, in order to succeed, need two people who are willing to listen and not just try and persuade the other person.
Discussion is a necessary variable to be able to live among peace with each other. In order to reach our common goal: being a successful country, we need to start listening and learning from the people we disagree with. Just starting a conversation can change how you see a person's views and how you look at your own. It shares a level of respect for other people's opinions.
Works Cited
"How Our Friendship Survives Our Opposing Politics ." YouTube, 25 Sept. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=qty0NjF3pdQ. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019.
Quattromani, Caitlin, and Lauran Arledge. "How Our Friendship Survives Our Opposing Politics." July 2017. Lecture.
Suttie, Jill. "Can Conversation Help Heal the Political Divide." Greater Good Magazine, 10 Aug. 2018, greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/can_conversation_help_heal_the_political_divide. Accessed 21 Nov. 2019.
How does this allow us to move past biased views that hinder the everyday conversation? From your stance, how would these conversations occur? To do so, people must put past differences and respect the opposing side, which rarely occurs. I think this could resolve some issues, but conflicts the nature of people arguing.
ReplyDeleteI loved your blog and found it very interesting. How do you think we could work to overcome our bias to have these conversations? Do you feel that if someone with an opposing view were to talk to you that you could openly hear them out or does it take time to get to know someone for you to have a conversation like this?
ReplyDeleteThank you! It takes a certain level of maturity on both sides to be able to initiate healthy conversation. Both people need to be willing to listen and have a conversation where they're not just trying to persuade the other person.
DeleteGood overview of the TED Talk and self-reflection of your own views. Are there particular steps that the TED Talk outlines to help make some of these discussions easier?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that conversations like the ones you write about are important. I also think we need to watch out for specific language and labels that we tend to use and that can be very limiting. To label someone as a "raging liberal" or a "Trump supporter" puts them in boxes that probably don't fully represent who they are.
ReplyDeleteIncorporating the Tedtalk so readers can use the same sources as you to form an opinion is a good idea. Can conversation really help us overcome our bias? If people are closed-minded, then what? How does one initiate a conversation like this in a mature way?
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with how we need to come together and stop seeing each other as opposites and start realizing that we have more views that make us similar rather than separate us. Do you think if we had more than a 2 party system it would be easier to share political views?
ReplyDeleteIt's very important to have conversations about politics rather than arguments, so that we can work together to improve the country. How do you think we can spread this idea to more people including the leaders of the country?
ReplyDeleteHello Zelda, I enjoyed reading your blog. From personal experience, when having conversations (especially about politics) they quickly turn into heated arguments. When people are passionate about certain topics they let their biases get in the way of their conversations. How will we get past those biases and discuss the problems that will affect us throughout our adulthood?
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