Monday, October 15, 2012

Stop Judging, Start Listening

My brother is a Republican. He's a member of the NRA. He also supports same-sex marriage, pro-choice and keeping Medicare and Social Security untouched.

I'm a Democrat. Super liberal in many regards but I have HUGE issues with immigration (I sound totally right wing at times) and my beliefs about foreign policy are all over the board.

And we talk. What's surprising, especially to us, is how often we agree. We never used to but we've both been riding the tsunami of this recession, we've both paid for children and worry about our kids, we have a lot in common. And as we talk we discover that a Republican can have some very liberal views and a Democrat can be pretty stodgy about certain things.

In some of the places I like to go on the internet, I've been appalled at how much people try to silence other people because they disagree. The my way or the highway crowd are all out there. But more than that, there's no listening to other's views. There's no interest in respecting that just because a person doesn't have the same POV that you do, it doesn't make them wrong or a bad person. It just means they have a different perspective.

The haterz are the ones who quickly shame those who disagree. They're quick with labels, full of hyperbole and drowning in their vat of self-righteous, politically correct virtue that they can't hear anything past the pats they're giving their own backs.

You know who they are. They don't. They're shocked when someone takes issue with them or their perfect points. They fly off the handle when people disagree and they run to their blogs and buddies and point out everyone's wrongdoings.

God, start listening people. It wouldn't kill some of you to stop talking and realize that we're all different. Not everybody sees life the same way you do. We all have different influences in our lives that shape us and decide us. Learn more about others.

Listen.

You might learn something.

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