Steven Sioma – Rescue Michigan

by Steven Sioma Posted April 13, 2021

I think there are fundamentals we all can agree on, the problem is identifying them with the language barrier we are experiencing.
Different groups in isolation have developed different meanings for words. We're all speaking English but the words mean different things to different people, due to their bubbles. I think with genuine dialogue, not looking for "Gotchyas" or pointing fingers, we may be able to re-establish a form of common language that helps us to identify the problems we all agree on, and from there work towards solutions.

All relationships must have strong communication to survive. Without it, they fall apart.
I think one of the simplest fundamentals we can all agree on, once identified in a way all parties can appreciate and understand, is that the sides are not "Red vs blue" but "Populace vs Institution". I would think nearly everyone can agree they detest politicians, do not feel citizens are in control and that the establishment manipulates us against one another so that we do not focus on them.

The first problem though is escaping our bubble to even begin communicating. Not sure where to begin there.
Online spaces are very unlikely to change any minds as it's too easy to dismiss inconvenient opinions. You're not talking to a person, after all. You're looking at words on a screen associated to a username and maybe a picture.

Campuses, maybe?

I know the most practical and likely productive effort is to get people who are already sympathetic to our views and cause engaged in it. I don't want to abandon our fellow citizens to divisive manipulation though. If we can find a way to break through to them, we may find the group of sympathetic people is larger than we could have imagined.