Why Listen to People Outside of Your Political Bubble
One of the main themes of the last decade has been the growth of social and political polarization. From the chambers of Congress to your Thanksgiving dinner tables, it is becoming increasingly difficult for both sides of the political divide to find common ground, even on seemingly trivial issues.
I’m not the only one saying this: academic researchers spend hours trying to find the roots of our fragmentation, famous writers ask the question in the titles of their books , social media platforms deliberately lock users in their own filter bubbles and conduct polls. confirm again and again how divided we are .
At some level, everyone is to blame for getting into their own guerrilla camp and savoring the comfort of like-minded people. But there are advantages to stepping outside of our echo chamber from time to time to at least dispel myths, rumors, and misconceptions that can affect how we perceive others.
Curiosity can be cute
I’ll start with a little insurance: sometimes it’s not worth it to appeal to someone you disagree with. For starters, feel free to ignore anyone who denies the reality of the pandemic or believes the 2020 presidential election was rigged due to allegations of rampant, unfounded fraud. Anyone you approach should at least believe in some semblance of objective reality, although this is an increasingly serious problem in this age of insane disinformation.
But if you find yourself having the opportunity to hang out with a friend or family member who doesn’t immediately bombard you with conspiracy theories, your curiosity can often turn into an olive branch.
Todd Kashdan of George Mason University, author of a study on the connection between curiosity and strong relationships , said in 2017:
When you show curiosity, ask questions, and learn something interesting about the other person, people reveal more, share more, and respond in kind by asking you questions. He creates a spiral of give-and-take that fosters intimacy.
If you are interested in dispelling friends’ misconceptions about how you think, then you can probably attract them by showing genuine curiosity about how they think.
You may find that you have more in common than you think.
In real, everyday matters, many Americans are not that far apart. And much of the division that divides us is deliberately fueled by politics and news networks, which have an economic incentive to fuel tensions.
You will probably have a hard time finding conservative working-class voters who think health insurance shareholders deserve to rake in profits while many Americans are drowning in medical debt . Likewise, everyone is likely to enjoy the staggeringly high cost of higher education , especially when we are all struggling to pay off college debt.
Even on more pressing issues, Americans outside of the political divide seem to find more in common if the biased branding is removed . One poll by Politico ahead of the 2020 presidential election found that a myriad of seemingly unforgiving questions could gain widespread bipartisan support.
As Politico wrote earlier this year :
For example, the right to clean air and water was considered important by 93% of those surveyed; protection of personal data by 93 percent; the right to quality education – by 92 percent; racial equality by 92 percent; affordable healthcare – by 89 percent; and the right to work by 85 percent.
Of course, this hopeful thinking has its limits, but it can be a good guide when you enter a debate that can become controversial.
You will be better informed
We have many preconceived notions about how people on the other side think, and many of them are wrong. Notions of leading democratic politicians wanting to usher in totalitarianism like Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela or Fidel Castro’s Cuba fall into this camp – and you can see these myths immortalized in the news over the wire. A good way to test your own understanding of the problem, whether it be abortion or mass incarceration, is to explain the other side of the discussion. If you are, for example, a proponent of criminal justice reform, you might find it helpful to know what colors someone’s aversion to the abolition of bail.
As startup author and investor Ben Kasnoch writes :
I have yet to find a more effective and reliable way to explore the depth of a person’s knowledge and the severity of his problem than by asking him to explain the other side’s point of view.
Clearly, going outside of your echo chamber has its advantages, even if you do it for a short while.