We are so bombarded by propaganda that it infiltrates the very grammer of our thought. Intelligent people who are capable of enormous nuance in every other area of their lives can be simplistic when it comes to political thought.
Election year is a deadly time for critical thinking. People are only concerned with which team you are on. Most people collect wise sayings of their hero, and collect the dumbest things their opponent has said. This practice leads to a people with two languages, neither of which can be translated for the other.
The world is a very complicated place. We will not survive this game of “cops and robbers” where every issue is reduced to a struggle of pure good against pure evil. How do we break the trance? Every day it is good exercise to think of one weakness in your hero, and one strength in your “enemy”. You’ll be surprised at the violent reaction from both sides to critical thinking. As people try to hammer you back to acceptable cliches you will realize the importance of daily trance breaking practices.
Let’s begin a conversation on ways to “break the trance” this election cycle.