Hot button issues lead to nothing but hot heads
“Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.”
Gun control, gay rights, abortion, universal healthcare etc. are all debated arguments in today’s society. Both sides polar opposites, and both sides 100 percent convinced their side is right.
Now don’t worry, I’m not going to argue any of these issues, because honestly as a writer my purpose is to have as large of an audience as possible read my work and by taking a stance on any of these issues I am losing a large majority no matter what.
Instead I want to try to end the social media screaming matches, friendship-ending arguments over these issues that never do anything but harm.
I deal with these arguments daily where I work, with my friends and in the classroom. We have all been there and, as we all know, these “arguments,” as we call them will never end.
But why is that? Why don’t people get as hot and heavy over issues such as driving regulations and such?
Is it because they are polar opposites? Is it because people are too stubborn? Is it because of governmental conspiracies and cover-ups?
Or, maybe, it’s something much simpler than all that.
Maybe it is because these issues and subjects aren’t the things being attacked here, it is the person.
All of these issues have something much bigger happening behind them then whether a person should own a gun or if everyone should have healthcare.
These issues not only deal with rules and regulations but deal with a person’s moral code and ethics–a person’s set global ideas of what is good and what is bad.
That is why they are so heavily and hotly debated. They hit home on both sides.
And in America, we have diverse people who live by many different morals and ethics.
“That is how I grew up, that is what my religion says, that is what I have experienced,” etc.
These things have created the worldviews each one of us have.
Rules, regulations and cultural entities change easily; a person’s way of life, of thinking, the foundation for what they believe as right or wrong and good or bad, are much harder to change, if they ever do.
That is why arguing about these issues is pointless in many cases.
I am not saying you should just hide these issues under the rug or not voice your opinion, but what I am saying is that do it and consider the others in the room.
Do not let your emotions get the better of you, do not come off as knowing the absolute truth, and most importantly remember this is a person in front of you. They believe the way they do for a reason; life, and all the good and bad that it includes, has formed the person and their beliefs in front of you.
We all know where we stand on these issues.
But seriously think about this, have you ever seen any good come from these discussions on Facebook, Twitter or in the classroom? I know I haven’t; all I have seen is people getting mad and hurt. Mad because they are so frustrated that people could be so blind to the “truth” and hurt because the way they percieve the world was just attacked. Their worldview was told it is wrong. No one likes being told they are wrong even when it pertains to the simplest of things, so how do you expect people to act when you tell them their whole way of percieving life is wrong?
Attacking comments and screaming louder over one another will never solve anything. The only solution is love. No I am not pulling some hippie Beatles rendition of life, I am serious.
Show by example what you believe. I have found this has a much more positive impact on someone else, then belittleing them. Listen and be considerate of one another–and step into the other persons shoes if only for a few minutes.