Let’s Talk Politics
If you’re like me, you avoid the things you don’t want to deal with. Whether it’s the laundry, submitting your report that was due a month ago, or still not knowing what to get grandma for Christmas, we all get good at bobbing and weaving like we’re in a prize fight when it comes to uncomfortable situations. The theory becomes that any situation will take care of itself and if it doesn’t, we’ll deal with the aftermath later. It has become such a habit of our collective behavior that I recently heard a prompt on N.P.R. asking how listeners would be avoiding topics during the holidays. I got so upset that I started yelling at the radio like my grandfather watching a Bears game. Let me explain.
It was a couple days before Thanksgiving when I heard a prompt on the radio asking listeners to call in with their default conversation topic to avoid talking about politics with their family over Thanksgiving. It’s always going to be a hot-button issue, even more so this year, and nothing spells disaster for a family get-together than politics. Many of you probably have a failsafe transition topic just like the radio was asking for because you don’t want another year of Uncle Frank’s rant on the inevitable Canadian invasion. If you avoid it this year though, the conversation will be back again next year.
That’s the part that inspired my volatile conversation with the radio. How are we ever supposed to make progress if we keep avoiding the issues that inspire the most passionate reactions? Especially in a year like this one with so much to talk about, why are we hiding from the conversation? It promises to be the most entertaining discourse you’ve had in a long while and next year, you might not have to dodge questions about your Green Party bumper sticker.
“But Adam, Uncle George can’t even mention Trump without getting red in the face.”
That doesn’t mean that you have to have the same reaction. Ask any teacher worth their salt, if a child (or parent) is throwing a tantrum, give them a response absent of emotion. They have no idea what to do and suddenly, things calm.
“But Adam, I get enough of it on the news. Can’t I just have one day where I’m not thinking about politics?”
Watching the news is not the same as thinking about politics. The news is not participatory. When surrounded by folks you know and have similar levels of authority with, that’s your opportunity to form a political stance, not just have opinions shouted at you by a guy in the fancy suit and too much makeup.
“But Adam, I don’t know that I have an opinion. I can’t stand listening to those chuckleheads running the country and so I don’t know how to contribute. And everyone else knows so much about it.”
Here’s the secret, no they don’t. Most of them are faking it by parroting the most recent thing they heard. Even if that’s not the case, this is your opportunity to ask questions. Learn something so that you can form your own opinion. Asking questions is always a superweapon.
One of my best friends holds to the polar opposite of most of my political, social, even spiritual beliefs. The relationship works because we are both concerned with those beliefs as works of intellect, not emotion. The goal is never to get the other to admit defeat, but to simply offer, “I’ve never thought of it that way before.” That’s the holiday opportunity we keep avoiding with our “safe” topics, to think of something differently.
