By Lucas Shaw,
Staff Writer.
Respect, consideration and thoughtfulness. These virtues are the answers to the grueling question: how can I be friends with people who do not share my political beliefs? In the long run, you benefit from surrounding yourself with people outside of your ideological bubble. So, before continuing, I would like to change the narrative. This is not how you can, but why you should be friends with people who share differing political perspectives to you.
In the days of technology and social media, it is difficult to think outside of the algorithm. The algorithm is specifically designed to feed you what you want to see when you want to see it. So the people and content within this algorithm are filled with ideas, news coverage, people and analytics that entertain and validate your political beliefs. When entering the world outside of your phone, at school or otherwise, we have become helpless when faced with disagreement and difference. However, disagreement and difference is the very thing that helps us learn how to navigate the social world.
Our ability to understand the nuances and biases of our own beliefs first comes from the ability to comprehend why one would disagree with you. To understand what the opposition is to begin with, we need to hear the opposition out. Being friends with those who disagree with you is a step towards making that possible. The more ideologically diverse your social circle becomes, the more places your mind can go.
Before your mind can embark on its journey, you must first be willing to accept that people will disagree with you. What’s there to gain from having tons of friends who disagree with you, but never being patient or compassionate enough to listen to what they have to say? There is a bias we hold that plagues our ability to accept opposing information: the confirmation bias. The confirmation bias causes individuals to seek information that can confirm or strengthen their beliefs and ignore information that doesn’t.
Our minds are tricky mazes, and stepping out of our biases can be one of the hardest things we have to do, taking our whole lifetime to figure out. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try, nor should we give up, and we shouldn’t feel like we have to embark on the journey alone. “Be aware that you can be wrong, that the majority of what you’ve been taught to believe are opinions, rather than facts. I think that that’s important,” said junior Cory Brown.
“Not everyone will listen to what you have to say, so it’s important to listen to other people who also feel the same.” said junior Maya Jobson. These are just two pieces of advice which may give you a place to start along your journey of accepting people into your life that disagree with you.
