Dealing with Political Differences: Dysfunction on Display

Right now, I am not a fan of politics. I feel assaulted every time a political ad comes on the air. It is the name-calling, accusations, the total disregard for truth or facts… I could go on but you are experiencing it too! Honestly, I am clicking off the channel when ANY political ad comes on television.

In my perfect world, politicians would tell us their visions and how they will accomplish them. They would debate the issues like civil people. Then, the pundits and commentators would remain silent. OK, maybe not silent, but accurately summarize what was said. I think they used to call that reporting!

I don't need the media telling me how to interpret what I just heard. We could all do with a little more objectivity. And I certainly don't need media to engage in rude behavior and expect me to find that interesting. Some of the comments by “news” people make me cringe.

I know, I'm dreaming.

But the constant modeling of anger, intolerance, hate towards those who don't agree with you, name-calling and so on can't be good for any of us. What does it teach us about relationships? How is this good role modeling for getting along with those who hold different views?

When you don't agree, attack? When you don't understand a person's point of view, call him or her a name? Make fun of those who believe differently? And ridicule moral and religious beliefs? Call people with standards, phobic? This is not political discourse. This is mean-spirited.

If any of you are taking notes from these political “discussions”, please throw your notes away. Class over. This is dysfunction on display! It's like those first 20 minutes of the movie, Saving Private Ryan. I sat in the theatre, head buried in my husband's side, quietly pleading, “Please make it stop. It's too much. I can't take it!”

I can't take it. If we all conducted our relationships this way, we wouldn't have relationships. Sadly, this election cycle has been a bad example of how to deal with differences. We've lost something fundamental—how to talk with each other respectfully.

If you feel passionately about this election, I am glad. I am passionate about my vote. But let's agree not to name call, put down, accuse of hate, racism, phobias and all the other crazy things we hear. What we see in media is embarrassing. It's like watching a bunch of unsupervised mean kids who need a good parent to come in and say, “Knock it off! Now, be nice!”