I hope we learn

     I don't know of anyone who is particularly excited about this coming election. Many of us are trying to choose between candidates that we are not thrilled with. What did we do to get us here? I believe it is because we are becoming better known for reaction than for evaluation. We can no longer use the excuse that the media and their biases are to blame. You can locate any bias that you chose, and new opinions are just a click away. Science has shown us that we seek biases that agree with out own. I would like to challenge people to seek out one article to read every day that they don't agree with. It has been proven that reading creates empathy. When you read something from someone else's point of view you can be exposed to new thoughts and ideas. This is definitely what is needed today. We are quick to polarize, and once we have chosen our side we are eager to defend it. Our candidates are great at polarizing. "If you are not for me you are against me." This is not a campaign based on issues but one based on feeling and emotion. Let us not be lead down this path again. It really isn't too late to demand issues however, it is too late to begin again and the candidates have a head start.
      I like to consider myself an open-minded person but when I took a class in critical thinking, I was forced to realize how quickly I formed my opinions before I found any facts to back it up. I have learned I am nowhere near as open minded as I would have thought, but now I know that my bias needs to be challenged and I should spend time evaluating my ideas instead of defending my beliefs, however sound that they may seem to me.
      The world is full of polarizing issues today. We need to remember that there is much more ground in the middle than on either side. It is far easier to come together when we aren't choosing sides. Racism is a scientific fact. All people are judged by their appearance and skin tone is obvious. However, fears and biases don't just go away because we want them to. We need positive reinforcement and positive actions and every side needs to hold out a hand. There is a football player who comes from a privileged background who is taking a stand for an issue it is said that he knows nothing about. Isn't this how we define heroes? Those who stand for issues that are not their own? Those people who risk much for those who have little. I understand that people may have problems with his method of protest and his issue, but instead of being so quick to judge take a minute to try and understand. If you can do that in some fashion he has accomplished his goal. You feel he is disrespectful but maybe that wasn't his intention, maybe it was to just start you thinking. I know it is mine.