What Has Politics Done to Our Country?

Had a conversation with a good friend of mine yesterday. Began talking about immigration and how illegal immigrants have negatively impacted our country. The negativity was pretty much on his end. I tried to point out that there were more positive economic impacts than negative impacts of illegal immigrants. The more I tried to reason with him, the angrier he got. 

I can't really blame him. We were bombarded with so much negativity over a year before the 2016 election that it caused bad feelings directed at religious groups, ethnic groups, and pitted Democrats against Republicans in a very hostile way.

The problem I have with all this is that people are so willing to accept anything that supports their fears, biases, and beliefs, no matter how manufactured or untrue the information might be.

Before the election, we were pummeled with "facts" about both candidates that were either partial, half, or complete untruths on social media and political television ads.

The only thing that stuck in my head was what my Father had told my Mother while I was in the kitchen with them, and Mom said she was voting for a certain party because of its stand on abortion (they were against).

My Dad said that he voted for the man, not the party. He said that the character of the man (and, I would like to think, woman) was more important than what the political party said they were going to do. He added that there are so many more things to consider about a party than their stand on abortion, though he acknowledged that was important, also.

I took that to heart. From then on, I researched and fact checked any candidate that ran for office as far as their backgrounds and interactions with people in life and in business.

When I was in college, I majored in journalism and learned that true journalists have to have three reliable, factual sources of their stories to protect themselves from libel lawsuits. As a result, I believe that people who work for CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, and Politifact have such standards.

I learned how to research, which continued into my career as a journalist/editor for the University of Illinois. Librarians are excellent researchers, and I added that ability to my journalism credentials.

What I'm getting at is that I don't accept propaganda as "facts." I've had people try to get me to accept their point of view based on propaganda manufactured by a political group. I usually tell them that if they can come up with a reliable news source (one based on honest journalistic standards), I will believe what they are saying. I would say that none that I've asked to back up their sometimes outrageous claims have managed to come up with anything factual.

When I started college, being from a rural Midwest town, I had biases, pre-conceived ideas, and prejudices about certain groups and people. The more educated and informed I became, the more I accepted people the way they are.

It's human nature to want to believe the things that support your general beliefs, prejudices, and biases. What I have a problem with are people who refuse to even consider that what they believe might not be true. They are unwilling to even entertain the idea that they might be wrong in their beliefs. I don't understand that kind of closed mindedness. I would want to know the truth.

Finally, I know I have been "unfriended," "unfollowed," and outright sworn at by various people. I believe in listening to a person's point of view, but when I know something is untrue, I can't let that go. I'm not trying to be a smart ass. I'm trying to get people to educate themselves before they continue to spread ignorance and hate based on lies and innuendo. 

Please research before you post, write, email, or argue about something that may or may not be true. Start with the thinking that whatever you see on a political website is questionable. Look for a reliable source and actually find out if what you are seeing is true. That's all I ask.