I don't like to engage in discourse about politics, especially here in the US. In part because I have allowed myself to be so ensconced in my little world that I am ignorant to a lot of the issues that are on the table.
I will however comment that another main reason that I do not engage in political discourse is I find it becoming more and more emotionally taxing and woefully lacking in intellectual stimulation. Discourse, in all its form, should be about communication of ideas. It should be a balance, even tempered exchange in which the engaging parties take turns to promulgate an idea, receive feed back, adjust and so forth. Essentially, a turn-taking, check and balance system of formulating ideas with the eventuality of a well-informed executable plan. Emotions, while valid, should be in check to allow for rational discussion. However, if one was to examine the commentary, the verbiage used, one would perhaps witness a degeneration of intellectuality, and a deviation from civiity. In other words, we have sunk to new lows in how we relay our ideas. It is no longer about logic, but about emotions.
People have always been passionate about politics, and it is a beautiful thing when citizens take up interest in what is immediately relevant to them; not to mention that it is their rights and their duty. Yet passion should be guided by thought, it should be channeled in a meaningful manner. The likes of Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson were all passionate about their ideas, and they have been to known to wax eloquent... yet despite their differences, despite the severity of the issues at hand, their passion, it did not stop them from uttering lines such as "I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to death the rights for you to say it". It was personal, and yet, it was not. There was a time when discourse observed certain limits, it was about the issue at hand, and not about the person.
Politicians, party supporters, we are all human, and inherently we are all fraud. Our intellect, our understanding is limited by our experiences from which to draw our references. And our lives is too short for us to make every mistake, or to develop cancer so that we may know it for ourselves. That is not a problem, it is why we congregate together from time to time, to share ideas, to seek out sounding boards, and to mutually expand our collective understanding. We are all blind men and women, seeking to understand the elephant as a whole.
Yes, it can be a humbling experience, as I have found for myself frequently how wrong I can be in the way I see things, but it doesn't have to be a judgement on me or anybody's character when we are wrong. Likewise, I think we ought to stop condemning people for expressing their views, we need to be more mindful of emotion trigger words, our knee jerk gut reactions. We need to stop shouting down at other ideas when it does not match ours. We need to stop the needless name-calling, bully tactics, smear campaigns. If our retort comes from a place of emotion, and not so much rationalism, it will only incite more negative energy, which is toxic and not conducive at all towards a mutualy satisfactory solution. It degenerates to a pedestrian, sophomoric endeavor.
An advice once given to me was if I was angry somebody (or something), don't act upon it immediately. Instead, wait overnight, think about it, let the emotional side cool down, write out what I have to say, my thoughts, and then come morning if I still feel raw about it, and what I wrote down is still presentable, then approach the issue (now, I will confess here that I am still learning this lesson, so my aplogies to those whom I have wronged by allowing things to fester as opposed to closure). I think this should apply to political debates as well. Debate is not so much about "fighting", but an art of presentation and persuasion. It is not done for the cheap laughs, or to get a cheap shot at the opponent. Debate is an ennobling experience for the parties involve, because if done right, both walk out from it having gained something more.
Therefore, let's just sit around and share ideas in a civilized fashion. We can be passionate, we should be passionate, but please let it be about the idea and not the person. Let it be about enlightenment, and not our egoes.
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