As anyone who knows me well will attest, I love to argue every subject from philosophy to mediocre reality television. I firmly believe that even the most trivial encounter can become exciting with a confrontational attitude (though, trust me, sometimes debating the merits of various flavors of ice cream can become quite brutal) . At the least, a healthy verbal argument can result in some sort of mutual ken between its participants; often, listening to the other side is the best way to bolster your own knowledge and thus become a more refined debater.
However, constructive argument is hardly the status quo today. In today’s increasingly partisan world, people invariably surround themselves with a cluster of like-minded individuals so as to shield themselves from any offensive contradictory opinions. I count myself among these; after all, my views are unequivocally correct, and why compromise with those savages who think differently? The desire to prove oneself right is arguably a fundamental component of human nature. However, in a democratic society, the diversity of people involved in the political process necessitates compromise and conversation between all affected parties. In reference to the effort to achieve this compromise, the phrase “reach across the aisle” might be more adequately termed “reach across the galaxy.” Votes on major political bills in Congress often fall closely along party lines, each side refusing to acknowledge the merits of the other. And when constituents also fail to engage political dialogues, elections become merely a sham driven by glossy attack ads that manipulate voters” emotions through scandalous imagery and ominous music. The somewhat recent debacle over President Obama’s speech to schoolchildren comes to mind with the subject of willful ignorance. The speech was protested by countless parents throughout Colorado and the country who claimed that no such message belonged in the classrooms of their children-understandably so, as it is particularly heinous of a political leader to encourage children on a national scale to become educated and successful.
This lack of communication is evident in a multitude of other areas-children eat dinner less often with their parents; the divorce rate is sky-high; people still watch The View-ironic, considering that more media are available for communication now than ever before, between text messaging, social networking, or even the perplexingly popular Twitter. When communication is reduced to a series of 140-character bite-size quips, the standard of discourse is approximately on par with infant gibberish, leaving little doubt that today’s parlance has significantly decreased in quality from the time of impassioned debates like that between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in 1858. Similarly, though the advent of the digital age ushered in a new realm of possibilities for retrieving information, the Internet and cable television allow news consumption to become more compartmentalized-liberals can seek liberal news outlets and conservatives can seek conservative news outlets, and exposure to other viewpoints can be effectively minimized. And thanks to the universality of the Internet, one can withdraw from discussion anywhere, regardless of whether you live in Los Angeles or Las Animas. Technology allows people to sequester themselves from the unfortunate reality of differing viewpoints, causing skills of discourse to atrophy. Listening to outsider perspectives not only fosters an environment of mutual trust, but increases a sense of community and opens new pathways for compromise, all goals for which we as a society should strive.
I do not profess to be the most open-minded person with regard to others” opinions (Star Wars is unquestionably superior to Star Trek); however, I am more than willing to listen to someone provided they have substantial evidence to support their assertions. At the core of our being, we all desire more or less the same things: happiness, stability, fulfillment. We just have different notions of how these goals should be realized. Even if our opinions are diametrically opposed, and you think Captain Kirk could beat up Han Solo, it is our prerogative as Americans, and more importantly, as humans, to respect our differences and build upon them.
Tom Roberts (addictedtosemicolons@gmail.com) attends Araphaoe High School in Centennial.
