With election season in full swing, it seems like people are very excited for both of our country’s nominees. It’s a race that is too close to call as I write in the moment here and now. And it should make for good television, that’s for sure, for the coming months.
But with good television comes lots of polarization. And the way we look at the news, it seems like the “other side” of the aisle is always dare I say bad and evil. One side spends exorbitant amounts of time demonizing the other side because that’s the way our political landscape is established. It feels like we the masses always need to have a bad guy to sustain ourselves and give ourselves some purpose.
My girlfriend and I traveled to Charleston earlier last month for a normal vacation. I must admit, even I was a little nervous because Charleston is in a “redder” state and it’s admittedly been a while since I traveled outside my New York City bubble.
After all, in New York City, people are more progressive and liberal. And the way the political media over here in NYC informs us, it almost feels like the other right-leaning cities are simply bad at life.
Because of this, I am aware that my mind can become distorted and turn me into someone that is just waiting for some sort of misstep by the other side that confirms my beliefs that my side is good, and the other side is bad. But honestly, in Charleston, that experience never came.
I was welcomed with open arms in Charleston everywhere I went. The city was nice and clean. The people were friendly. And all in all, we had a great time vacationing there. We weren’t bombarded with anti-liberal propaganda. We were simply out there having fun and enjoying ourselves. And because of that, I really appreciated the city, and it re-opened my lens on life.
It made me realize that most people are simply people. They are not good or bad. They are not right or wrong. They have their own beliefs and principles that make them who they are. And because of that, they have every right to fight for whatever it is that they believe in.
Often, the media simply likes to portray the worst of the worst to instill fear and dare I say hatred about the other side. They show talking heads blasting the people as left-wing or right-wing or whatever and it fills the consumers of the information with a sense of despair and anger. It makes people believe that certain types of people are so different beyond repair.
It’s a tough situation that we’re dealing with. After all, the media needs to make their money and earn their keep. They have their own agenda that they need to deal with, and their goal is to keep eyeballs glued to the TV, not to promote a sense of peace and harmony. It’s important to understand that, because the information that we consume affects significantly how we color the world.
Whether we color it in blue or red or whatever shape or form. It has a funny way of distorting our reality and making us believe things that simply aren’t true. That’s why sometimes we simply need to see for ourselves about the other side. See them as they are. Not what a certain platform portrays them to be.
Whenever I travel to a “Republican” state or county, whether it be for leisure or for business, the people were always friendly and nice. Sure, we kept politics out of the discussion, but people were simply people. They ate food. They clothed themselves. They cared about their families and loved ones. More often than not, we shared more commonalities than differences. It really is a different lens on life, and I would say that this type of perception not only applies to Democrats and Republicans, but for the rest of the world as well.
After all, you see the news media demonizing certain other countries as evil or plain wrong. But most of us who watch these news media have not even stepped foot in those countries. How can we know for sure if the people are what the news media claim them to be? Don’t get me wrong, the media has a very important job and their reporting should not be discounted.
It’s just that the drama we see unfolding before our very eyes on television screens is just a little snapshot of what life is really like in those countries. Are they really as bad or horrid as we depict them to be? I sincerely doubt it.
Drew Binsky is a famous YouTuber that has apparently travelled to every country in the world already. And his main takeaway from what I hear is that the people in almost every country he’s been to are just that – they are people. They care about the same things. They want to learn about the same things. They are respectful and friendly. They are more same than they are different. And that’s something that travel and experiencing something firsthand can do to your perspective.
So, for me, I am grateful to Charleston for reminding me about that. I am grateful for the ability to travel to help me experience something firsthand rather than simply rely on biased reporting all the time. I am grateful for the humanity of people and their general kindness. There is a lot to love about this world, and quite simply you just need to experience it for yourself.
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