Status Updates From I Think You're Wrong (But I...

Painful

We also can’t have productive dialogue with others without getting curious about what stakes color the other person’s perspective. Our stakes aren’t always logical, coherent, or rational, and that’s okay. The same holds true for other people. We don’t need to discount a person’s perspective because of what’s influencing it; we just need to acknowledge what’s influencing it.

When we believe the power to either fix or destroy everything lies in our politics, it becomes increasingly important to label people who disagree with us as enemies and to ensure that our thoughts prevail. We don’t want to talk about politics, especially with people who disagree with us, because we’ve decided our politics define us and everything around us.