Everyone has been in an argument where both sides are CERTAIN that they are right, with absolutely no attempt to patiently and actively listen to what the other is saying. And you get angry at the other person, irrationally reacting to what they say and thinking that they’re an idiot, when in reality both of you are partially wrong and partially right. That’s kind of what politics is like. All. The. Time. And people act surprised when progress is slow, but it’s because people are all too often using their one mouth instead of their two ears. It becomes about being right, rather than working together to find the right solution.
An example of this was when people, like me, were arguing for immigration as a plus for staying in the EU, where we were focused on the benefits it has on the country as a whole. In doing so, we completely failed to address how the costs of immigration can all too often fall or appear to fall on an individual location when, for example, there aren’t enough jobs in the region for everyone to have one. It was just “oh, you weren’t going to do that job anyway.” The solution was to (again, for example), create more jobs so that nobody can be perceived as stealing a job, not to insult or ignore someone. When you disregard someone like that, then you lose the opportunity to change their mind or for YOU to learn and potentially change your own mind.
It turns out that the same part of the brain that reacts when you perceive a threat to your life is the same part of the brain that reacts when your world view is being challenged. That means that you have to be calm, make people feel safe and be willing to accept that you could be wrong if you have any hope of changing someone’s opinion.
The biggest harm to the UK from Brexit is not the flailing economy, it is the social and political divide that has emerged. It could also potentially be the biggest benefit because now is the time to heal that rift that was already there and the only way to do that is to be more empathetic, more patient and change the way politics is done in this country.
I think that sometimes we forget that everyone, whoever they are and wherever they’re from, are all just trying to lead safe, content lives. Even those who discriminate against and/or violently attack others (as wrong as I think that is) are doing so because they perceive them in some way as a threat to their hopes for a safe and content life. Rather than have politicians (and media) who label those violent people by their religion or race, we need empathetic people who will look at whatever unstable force is at play in their lives, whether it be a poor economy, violence they've witnessed/suffered themselves or anything else.
The reality is that we're all in this together, so let's take the time to research to build our own opinions, understand any opposing perspectives and learn from each other.
Happy voluntravelling,
The Voluntraveller