Let’s Assume that Most People are Smart
And other unfortunately radical ideas.
I was listening to a panel discussion on an agricultural radio show recently when I heard a farmer say something that I couldn’t quite get past:
“How dumb do these people think we are?”
He was referring to the “liberal media” or the “Washington elites” (can’t recall which, but really, same difference), the “we” being people from rural America. It wasn’t the specifics of the scenario that startled me though, it was the general idea, the idea that somehow, in our national conversations about hard issues, we’ve gotten to a point where it must be assumed that the people who disagree with us don’t simply disagree, they must actually believe that we are less than them.
There have been a lot of great Medium stories recently (basically explaining America to itself) but this statement was an important reality check for me. I spend a big chunk of my time talking to farmers and other members of rural communities, usually over the phone from my company’s Silicon Valley office. It can be jarring to straddle the two worlds, but I can promise you that, despite having many disagreements with my Heartlanded compatriots, I have never once thought, “Wow, these people are dumb.” On the contrary, the people I know are some of the smartest and most resourceful people I know, particularly in the face of a set of circumstances I would not have a clue how to deal with.
So I’ve been wondering what this election might look like if everyone, on both sides of the debate, assumed that the people opposite them were smart. Not that they went to Harvard or got a perfect score on the ACT, just that they have reflected on experiences in their lives and came to conclusions that made sense to them, and those thoughtful conclusions lie behind their belief systems. What if we assumed that people weren’t being rash or ignorant or petty? What if we listened a little harder to people who are different from us, and considered for a moment that possibility that we might be as wrong about our politics as we think they are about theirs? Is an empathetic America possible?
I sure hope so.
Whatever happens in November, something that cannot be ignored is happening in our country. America is growing apart. This election may well be a point of no return, beyond which we’ll either have to take a long look at ourselves and each other and decide whether it makes sense to have one, centralized government for all 319 million of us, or if we’re going to stay united, we’ll have to figure out how we’re going to work a little harder at understanding one another.
Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this, a click on the green heart below would be wonderful. Looking forward to comments from disagreers! Then, you might enjoy my efforts to not sell my soul. @sarah_k_mock
