Isn’t it sad that we’ve come to a society where it’s actually a THING when you meet someone who doesn’t share your beliefs? Ironically, the best way to meet people who have differing views than you is to meet in neutral territory i.e. a foreign country. I met a Republican in India. It was great.
I think the biggest problem I have with democracy today is that we don’t talk to enough people who don’t agree with us. I’m not saying that we should engage in conversation with crazy people who can’t seem to put logical thoughts together, but I mean there ARE people who are very smart who don’t think like you. Or me.
The other thing about having those conversations, is making sure nobody is trying to win. Nobody is trying to say oh hey MY IDEA IS BETTER THAN YOURS HOW COME YOU THINK THIS WEIRDO. It’s more just trying to understand where the other person is coming from. Because usually they have a real place they are coming from and maybe its not a point you’ve considered.
Speaking from experience, it was really great trying to hear out this other person and why they believe what they do. There were some points we were in agreement on. Some points I don’t think we saw eye to eye. But that’s ok. I think that’s the point.
I think the BIGGEST detriment to democracy, at least today, is not being able to talk about differences without yelling at each other. And that’s a global thing. I notice that in a lot of places, and a lot of countries.
This is where tech is really not helping, and in fact, has probably made it worse. Hopefully in the future we can use tech to bridge that gap and actually converse on real issues, with real people.
But today, hopefully we can all realize this is a problem and actually seek out opinions different to our own, and hear them out.
Not just yell a lot of things at a lot of people (no matter how good it feels).
So I Quit My Job and Moved to India 