Politics has always been embedded in our society but since the last presidential election there seems to be a surge in hostile behavior towards individuals based on their political party. It has been seen countless times on social media, the news, the classroom, work, and at social gatherings. The subject of what is going on with the President and his cabinet, what he tweeted, and what your opinion is, come up very easily. If you are lucky the person asking has the same opinion as you, and voted for Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton, or someone else. And the big one, whether you are a Democrat or a Republican. And depending on your answer determines how the conversation will proceed. I have viewed this go different ways. I have seen an individual who voted for Donald Trump talk to an individual they discover voted for Hilary Clinton, and once they discovered this, the conversation was no longer light and friendly. This prompts the inevitable questions of why. Why did you vote for that nominee? Why do you think their views are morally sound? Did you vote for Hilary Clinton just because she is a woman? As well as the opposite side of two individuals who align with Democratic/Republican views continue with a very pleasant conversation. Yet this pleasant conversation does invoke questions such as: Can you believe anyone voted for Trump? Can you believe anyone voted for Hilary? At this moment your political views become an identity. It becomes who the other person in the conversation believes you are. When the views are opposite, there is a hostile tone to these questions. And if there is not a hostile tone, there is the unspoken tension of how different you and this other individual is. This is something in which there seems to be no way around.
There is no avenue to which the political atmosphere can be ignored. It does not matter if an individual is just scrolling through social media, watching a comedy that mentions the issues, or shopping and coming across a bumper sticker on Amazon such as the example below. All instances lead to some time of interaction with what is going on in our political climate.
The tone of bumper stickers such as this does not assist in alleviating the defensive tone to which “friendly” conversations can take. As if there is a sense of blame to go around. Items such as this contribute to the Political Identity an individual is seen to have. When there is an individual who associates with a Democratic viewpoint, this becomes who they are and how they are seen. And individuals who maintain a Republican viewpoint conjure up a mental or physical picture as seen below.
Occurrences such as described above allows for the questions such as: Does your Political Identity determine who you are? And if the answer is no, then what explains the defensive tone a conversation can take up when it is discovered the individual you are speaking with has different political views? Why is the subject of Politics such a sensitive issue between friends, colleagues, or strangers, who are just having a conversation? When there is no intent to enact change? I believe these are important questions to ask ourselves when we are discussing politics. Without considering the whys or how a Political Identity can have such an impact in who we associate with, will we ever keep from alienating individuals on their personal beliefs purely because we disagree? Should we? Should you?