Impossible

Credit: David Sipress, The New Yorker

Goodness.  It's whacky out there on the inter webs, TV, and all the other ways you get news. What's true? What's not true? Or perhaps an alternative fact?  Impossible.  And it doesn't seem to matter what you decide to believe, because someone thinks you are completely wrong, or just plain dumb.  And they will tell you, without hesitation.

What happened to critical thinking?  What happened to listening to someone that doesn't hold your same beliefs and opinions, to understand better where they are coming from?  How can we possibly work together to fix what needs fixing if we can't talk to each other?

Two recent articles say this way more articulately than I have:

- "The 'Other Side' Is Not Dumb" by Sean Blanda.  "Online it means we can be blindsided by the opinions of our friends, or more broadly, America.  Over time, this morphs into a subconscious belief that we and our friends are the sane ones and that there's a crazy 'Other Side' that must be laughed at."

-  "It's Not Trump, It's Us" by Kevin Aldridge.  "We view one another with suspicion and contempt, reducing our neighbors to a label: Republican, Democrat, conservative, liberal, libtard, tea bagger, alt-right."

Please take a moment to discern, to assess the source.  

Take a breath before responding.