Two Opposing Opinions Do Not a Middle Ground Make
I'm a journalist, at least I'm trying to be. The central aspect of my job is to write unbiased articles, articles that express truth in its most pure form. Because of this fact, one of my biggest pet peeves is American journalism.
We live in a society that believes if you take a look at two extreme opposing sides, compare and contrast them, allow someone from each side argue it out, then we can somehow riddle out the unbiased truth.
That's poppycock.
That's not real life. That's not truth.
Truth is the middle ground.
We all recognize this come election season. As soon as the left wingers start arguing with the right wingers we all start rolling our eyes and wishing we had someone who actually trumpeted what we believe, someone who represented us.
We live in and function within that middle area. If we can see it in politics, why do we struggle so much to see it in our own lives?
We think that because someone takes the extreme opposite view to ours that only one of us can be right. We stake our ground, often spending more time explaining why the others are wrong than we do explaining why we are right.
If this bothers us with politicians, it ought to bother us when we do the same thing.
Maybe that person who thinks differently from you isn't as wrong as you think he or she is. And maybe, just maybe you aren't as right as you think you are. Maybe the truth of the matter is somewhere in between. Maybe the truth lays where no one has to be defensive and hurt.
We live in a society that believes if you take a look at two extreme opposing sides, compare and contrast them, allow someone from each side argue it out, then we can somehow riddle out the unbiased truth.
That's poppycock.
That's not real life. That's not truth.
Truth is the middle ground.
We all recognize this come election season. As soon as the left wingers start arguing with the right wingers we all start rolling our eyes and wishing we had someone who actually trumpeted what we believe, someone who represented us.
We live in and function within that middle area. If we can see it in politics, why do we struggle so much to see it in our own lives?
We think that because someone takes the extreme opposite view to ours that only one of us can be right. We stake our ground, often spending more time explaining why the others are wrong than we do explaining why we are right.
If this bothers us with politicians, it ought to bother us when we do the same thing.
Maybe that person who thinks differently from you isn't as wrong as you think he or she is. And maybe, just maybe you aren't as right as you think you are. Maybe the truth of the matter is somewhere in between. Maybe the truth lays where no one has to be defensive and hurt.
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