I’ll admit it, I don’t know that much about politics. All I have is what I hear from other people and what I can read on social media. I’m smart enough to know that this is not the most accurate way of learning about what actually goes on with politics and in order to form an opinion I need to do a lot of research. Not everyone realizes that social media is not the best place.

Over the years at high school and college, people are not shy about what their views are. Sometimes it’s really hard for me to participate in these conversations, but not just because I don’t know much about the topics. The biggest issue I have is uneducated people arguing a topic they don’t know much about and the way people “discuss” politics.

First of all, there are a lot of people out there who don’t do their research. They rely on what they’ve heard and not actually looked into the topic they are voicing their opinion on. You can talk all you want about how you hate guns and think they should be banned or vice versa, but what do you know about guns? Yeah, a bullet in the chest can hurt you, but do you know what the difference between two different types of guns? Not everyone is aware.

You also have to look at both sides when educating yourself on a topic. It’s important to not only look at the radical views as well as the not as radical views of both sides. You don’t have to agree with it, but it’s smart to know why the other party feels the way they feel.

My biggest problem with discussing politics is the fact that people don’t even actually “discuss.” Half the time I am part of a conversation about politics, it ends up being a shouting match and people aren’t listening to the other person talk and are just trying to drill their opinion into the other’s brains. That’s not a discussion. No one is keeping an open mind. You don’t have to change your mind, but if you want to have an actual discussion, you have to actually listen to what the other person is saying.

Belittling the other party is a poor way to get your point across. I learned this in my high school English class. You’ll never be taken seriously if all you do is attack the other person. Taking jabs at their appearance or intelligence does not make your argument better. If anything it, makes people even less interested in what you are trying to say.

It’s not that I don’t care about politics or I’m not interested, it’s just exhausting to listen to people attempt to force their opinion on other people who aren’t going to change their mind. It’s painful to listen to people try to rip the other opinions apart instead of agreeing to disagree. Most people don’t go about discussing the topic the right way. Politics is a largely important topic, and if you aren’t interested in it, you should be. Just make sure to be a decent person when discussing it and educate yourself. You wouldn’t get an A on a paper discussing a book if you didn’t actually read it, what’s different about this topic?