Meme, Cliche and The Pervasiveness of Lazy Thinking

I love to eat, I love to cook, and most importantly- I love to feed people. My ideal holiday always involves seeking out the "local fare" and consuming it. Food is a form of comfort, but also a reflection of the people who create it and the region it is birthed from. I love people, and few things are more enjoyable to me than a good long meal involving well reasoned discussion. I value diversity, passion, respect, and honesty. I am passionate about a host of issues- human sex trafficking and racism being at the top. I have an unhealthy attraction to political debate and an equally unrealistic hope that intellectual honesty will prevail. As such- I can be easily exhausted.

The recent increase in political rhetoric has me feeling weary. I am particularly disturbed by the use of meme and cliche in social media these days. It seems like people see something they like; and without much thought or research they post it to their FB or comment about it on twitter. Passersby see it- some like it; some shake their heads and mutter an offensive judgement against the poster; the more emotional consider unfriending or unfollowing said individual; but more often than not, most of us just move along with our day and rarely give it another thought. Either way, this constant barrage of meme and cliche works its way into our psyche; and dare I say- plays a significant role in shaping our perspectives.

All of this matters- why? Because we are allowing greater forces than our intellect, personal experience, and solid factual information to form our general ideas about people and situations. Much of this formation is causing anger, outrage, and division.

In our current political climate it seems that one is either right or wrong, good or bad, brilliant or stupid, enlightened or backwards. Nobody seems to ask questions anymore and so many things are assumed. If you support Obama- you must be some tree hugging hippie who feels a tremendous amount of guilt, or worse- you're lazy, envious and want to see the country taken over by communists. If you support Romney- you must be some backwards ignorant religious person who hates women, diversity and the poor. I won't even address those of us who don't fall into one of the major parties- because we are just a bunch of rebels without a cause.

What has happened to curiosity?

Why don't we ask questions anymore? 

What are we afraid of? 

I'm going to get a little personal here, but when was the last time you asked someone (with a genuine desire to actually hear from them) why they think the way they do?

How often do we wonder what another persons life experience has been and ponder how that has shaped the way they see the world? More often than not, from the moment we find out that a person is of a certain religious or political ideology- we place them in a box and filter everything they say through the assumptions that tend to accompany their particular box.

I find it both amusing and troubling that people who get to know me and trust me as a somewhat thoughtful and "open-minded" person find it absolutely strange that I have conservative views in some areas of life and politics. It's equally troubling when those who think of me as a conservative thinker are surprised or troubled by the liberal views that I hold.

I hear people talk about how fatigued they are with politics and division, but I see few people attempting to make changes. We all know that change is difficult. It requires a great deal of patience. More than anything- it requires a curiosity about people and their experiences and a willingness to listen and learn.

Those who are exhausted to the point of complete disdain for anything political find it impossible to get away from the subject. So why do we keep trying to put our fingers in our ears and swear off all things political? Perhaps we shouldn't try to run away from something that is so woven into the fabric of our lives. Perhaps we should change the way we see people, judge ideas, and approach conversation.