Bringing Politics Back To The Dinner Table

“How was your Thanksgiving?”

“It was great, food was good, no politics, so I’d say it went well.”

We’ve all heard it before. Politics and real world topics about social justice and human rights often spark debate that too often become a heated exchange. These topics often lead to yelling matches and make for an awkward encounter followed by a decision to outlaw all talk of anything political from family functions. The true nature of these topics bring up real emotions when we talk about them because they are important issues that we all care deeply about such as rent prices, taxes, social policy, foreign policy, the list goes on. So why as humans have we decided to eliminate the discourse on issues such as these more and more? If you answer that it’s because there is too much emotion involved this speaks to just how important these issues are and how will they ever be solved if we can’t talk about them to those closest to us. It would be healthier if we could develop a way of talking politics with loved ones (possibly even complete strangers) that was constructive rather than destructive. There are siblings and friends that have halted all communication due to a political disagreement ten years ago, this way of thinking is not moving society forward, but sweeping important issues under the rug to be ignored for the foreseeable future.

It’s easy for me to say we should all talk about politics and be civil about it but putting it into practice is a different story especially in extreme cases where some feel threatened by taking a stand for what they believe in. This shouldn’t be so. The communication needs to start within. We cannot change society or even one other person if we are unwilling to change ourselves. Its best to take a deep breath when you hear something you disagree with and instead of saying ‘you’re wrong’ ask them why or try to listen from their perspective in order to better yourself and if you get really ambitious try to offer an alternative once they are aware you aren’t maliciously trying to belittle their ideas. You may even change their mind in that very moment to a degree, not completely, but enough for them to think; ‘well shoot, those who disagree with me aren’t that bad.’ That is where progress is made.

Follow Celeste Headlee’s guided steps (link below)

     1)      Don’t try to educate

     2)      Don’t pre judge

     3)      Show respect

     4)      Stick it out

The media likes to portray two sides as rival sports teams to draw ratings and sadly this works. Every night millions of Americans tune into ‘news’ and spend an hour or two yelling at the top story on CNN. In reality they heard exactly what they came to hear from this bias outlet (affirmation and validation). This, however, just furthered the divide between them and their neighbor who is next door throwing his shoe through the TV because of something he heard on Fox News. In our society today it would be socially unacceptable to some if these neighbors ever ‘talked politics’.

If we can flip this narrative on its head and start talking politics in a constructive way I believe we can actually start to solve some of the problems that face us today.

Please read more on how you can reach out to those who challenge your beliefs and how this can better you:

How Berkeley is dealing with talking politics in the current political climate: https://news.berkeley.edu/2018/10/26/how-do-we-talk-politics-in-these-heated-times/

Celeste Headlee on how we CAN talk about politics constructively:  https://ideas.ted.com/how-to-talk-about-politics-constructively/