Monday; October 25

When I was at the gym working out the other day, I looked up to one of the many TV screens in front of me and read an interesting question, “When did ‘shock politics’ replace telling the truth?”. My initial reaction was to yell at the screen, “Well, you should know because you were a part of starting it.”; but I refrained and just stewed about how often media outlets that include “news” in their titles have been reduced to “opinion” networks. Interestingly, my inner contempt led me to wonder something similar. My question isn’t as much about “when” as it is about “how”. How have we gotten to this point – and, oh by the way, I am not just targeting the media, there is enough blame to go around to a bunch of us.

As I reflected on the lack of cooperation between competing opinions, I got to thinking about two concepts: hyperbole and partisan positions. I believe that we have applied hyperbole (using exaggeration to make a point) so often that we start to believe our own rhetoric. Just listen to how often we use the “always” and “never” to describe a situation. It may be natural to try to amplify a point, but we need to make sure that we use truth rather than hype to make decisions. Partisan positions are often associated with words like “us”, “them” and “they”. We find it comfortable to live in social boxes and see the world as black and white. However, when we choose a belief and make it a defining aspect of life, we alienate some people and adopt others. Resolving a problem takes a backseat to an unbending adherence to our own philosophies. Are there certain things that are innately good and others that are evil? Yes, but I am not convinced there are as many as we have come to believe.

There is truth in the world – and it really isn’t all that hard to determine – however, we must be willing to set aside an emotional blindness built upon personal opinions. When we do that, we are more apt to have honest conversations and build lasting relationships.

Think About It!

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