Too often these days, debates in political discourse have become filled with buzzwords and little substance. News outlets and television channels air their opinions, while presenting them as facts. Is it possible for us as citizens to just find fair and unbiased information from our news sources instead of other people’s prejudices being pressed upon us? In this day and age, it’s not very likely.
In the last decade, the amount of information at our fingertips has increased dramatically. Want to find the mathematical equation for escaping Earth’s orbit? It can be yours in less than 10 seconds, no rocket science required. However, this much information can sometimes be overwhelming, and we look for sources to condense it and make it easier to understand, like our nightly news broadcasts. You would expect the people on the other side of the camera would feel the same way and have a motivation to provide an essential service such as this to their viewers.
The problem with this idealistic scenario, though, is people’s biases enter into the equation. When you trust someone else to evaluate a situation for you, you are trusting that person to give you their best opinion on the topic, but that’s just it, an opinion. Today’s society is too trusting of opinions and what concerns me is when opinions become blurred with facts.
Contrary to what many may have said to you, truth does not have a liberal or conservative bias. The truth purely has a truth bias. The only way for us to figure out the correct choice of action in our daily lives, or in international diplomacy for that matter, is to let the facts do the talking. This should be regardless of what our feelings are about them. We should not be afraid to hear other opinions, but at the same time, if you feel strongly about something, you should be able to give a good reason why.
If we continue to let how people feel control debate, everyone is allowed to live in their own world of belief. This ignores focusing on how ideas and policies actually impact people in the real world, not just on paper. But we continue to follow this path. Safe spaces, where people are prohibited from speaking contrary opinions, are becoming a growing trend on college campuses. Students must now be given “trigger warnings” before they engage in what is deemed “sensitive” material. Our colleges and universities, the places where we expect to have a strong discourse and debate of dissenting opinions, now prohibit certain speech across campus.
There are some that may not know this, but the First Amendment does not protect you from being offended. The First Amendment protects all speech that does not threaten or incite immediate violence. This includes speech some deem “controversial.” If you believe your ideas are the correct ones, please defend them with facts and we can all have a civil conversation. When people say others with different views than theirs are evil or bigoted, and we need to prevent them from speaking, that is a dangerous development indeed for this country’s future.
Connor Kockler is a current student at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School. He enjoys writing, politics, and the news, among other interests.
