I consider myself a political chameleon. Whenever I encounter someone who argues passionately for one end of the political spectrum, I defend the opposing side. Not because I think my opponent is wrong, but because I want to open everyone’s eyes to the multitude of credible ideas and opinions floating around.
For instance, a few days ago, my friend raved vehemently against President Obama’s choice to release Taliban prisoners without properly notifying Congress. Although I disagreed with the president’s actions, I habitually started listing possible reasons for this odd behavior.
“Perhaps the diplomats negotiated the terms without the president’s approval, and he was attempting to maintain the U.S. image,” I reasoned.
Neither my friend nor I knew all the facts surrounding the case. In fact, none of the participants could possibly understand how the conflict fit into the grand scheme of our world and beyond. Therefore, no one could surmise a faultless situation.
One decision, say retaining the Taliban prisoners, may have led to a completely different scenario than releasing them will. Or, if we are not alone in our insanely huge universe, then perhaps the president’s actions are ultimately negligible. We have very limited perception of the consequences of our actions.
Perfectly right and wrong answers exist solely in the misled imagination. No one person understands everything. I may know about a small part of the world, but in the end, I misunderstand how that information fits into the vast truth. I honestly understand nothing. Everyone just guesses.
Yet, the Republicans and Democrats, Christians and Muslims, gays and anti-gays and many others claw each other’s eyes out for retaining supposedly conflicting opinions. I rarely witness someone who genuinely acknowledges the opponent’s credibility. If everyone respected each other’s ideas, though, we could stop many wars and stifle belittlement.
Everyday, all I hear are hateful remarks from the opposing political sides. Democrats call conservatives greedy; Republicans call liberals stupid.
In a video called “The Rich, Imbecilic, Hateful Republican Buffoons Who Finance Romney’s Campaign,” I find everything awry with modern American politics. The speaker repeatedly calls his opponents corrupt, buffoons and any number of terrible phrases. In the comments below the video, people mimic his hateful diction in their shallow opinions.
Where does this belittling get us? Nowhere. Hating on each other does nothing to further the intellectual world of politics.
Open your eyes, I say, and accept the political opinions of others. Take a minute to listen and understand before beginning a rebuttal. Stop flinging accusations and hate at fellow human beings.
Just because someone holds a different idea doesn’t make them wrong. Their values and opinions are different, but no less important.
Our society claws for the delineation between right and wrong because we fear the unknown. Mystery, however, is and always shall be part of our world. Everyday life forces us to make our best guess between right and wrong, but everyone should acknowledge the equal merit of every opinion.
No opinion is all true, and no opinion is all right. We are all together in this confusing world and must open our minds to all the limited understandings of our kind.
Shaylah Wood is the managing editor at El Diablo, the Durango High School student newspaper. Her parents are Mike Dalsaso and Kerry Wood-Dalsaso of Durango.
