The "Other Side" Is Not Dumb

https://medium.com/@SeanBlanda/the-other-side-is-not-dumb-2670c1294063#.94jbwhabv

What is emerging is the worst kind of echo chamber, one where those inside are increasingly convinced that everyone shares their world view, that their ranks are growing when they aren’t. It’s like clockwork: an event happens and then your social media circle is shocked when a non-social media peer group public reacts to news in an unexpected way. They then mock the Other Side for being “out of touch” or “dumb.”
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A dare for the next time you’re in discussion with someone you disagree with: Don’t try to “win.” Don’t try to “convince” anyone of your viewpoint. Don’t score points by mocking them to your peers. Instead try to “lose.” Hear them out. Ask them to convince you and mean it.

It's disappointing when you see your own team members treating the other side like they are dumb.

From my perspective on this team, I feel like members of the other team are much more disrespectful when they disagree with us than we are when we disagree with them. But then every once in a while, I'll see a teammate say something that makes me cringe.

I have a few friends in real life who are on the other team, and I respect them. They are intelligent people who are trying their best. We don't talk about politics face to face. And we get along just fine.

One of the best experiences (and in some ways one of the worst, but that's another story!) I've had in life was being an elected member of local government. And one of the things that made it so valuable, I think, was interacting with and at times working alongside, members of the other parties. What I learned from that, is that once you take away the ideologues (on both sides) and the self-interest (again on both sides) most of the people serving as councillors wanted to do their best for their community. They just had very different ideas about what that meant.