I realize I am not telling you anything new. We’ve been told this since the beginning of time, be kind to others. Generally I think we all strive to do this, to be kind to others. However, when it comes to politics, it seems more difficult than ever to meet people half way. Why is that? Why is it, that “the other side” must be defeated at all costs? Why even, are they “the other side”?
In a recent episode of Hidden Brain, one of my favorite podcasts, Eitan Hersh, a political science professor, spoke about the possibility that our politicking may be a lot less impactful than we really think. Hersh argued that in our current environment of social media and outrage society, what we once considered to be the virtue of being well informed about the day’s political issues, has really turned into a hobby or fandom. While the internet has allowed us to be more informed (though you should see this post about disinformation), what we have decided to do with said knowledge is not to act on it and influence the policies we believe in, instead we grow more passionate about the issues and stop there.
Hersh went on to explain that if we, civically-minded citizens, want to actually make a difference, we’d be better off doing it at a local level, where the impact is much larger than at the national level. But more importantly, stop getting stuck at the emotional phase and move on to the persuasion phase.
Want to learn more? Listen below.
