So many of us are experiencing an increase in fear, division and despair. These feelings are real – and we all would benefit from listening to one another about how we are feeling. There is also real data out there that backs up our feelings. Recent studies have shown an increase in the percentage of people willing to engage in political violence, for instance.
But even as we recognize that we are in an age of vulnerability, as Asma Uddin’s book The Politics of Vulnerability suggests, we need to spend some time checking our sample size. Our attitudes about our neighbors are often formed by
- those talking about people, and not from people themselves
- reports that focus exclusively on the negative
- social media posts
Our minds take in these sources of information and we often assume that they are statistically representative of the people around us. We can then be deceived about the very neighbors we long to relate to, but find ourselves fearful of.
Robert P. Jones and his organization PRRI show that Americans are far more unified about certain values than we may assume.
Most Americans of all party affiliations believe in the aspirational constitutional values of freedom of religion, accepting people of diverse racial and religious back grounds, and that every citizen should have the right to vote. We may interpret these values differently. We may differ on many issues. People with greater status in past and present, may have strong reactions of fear to changes that work to include greater diversities of human beings and human cultures.
But we do have some values that we agree on.
In this moment of intense feelings of vulnerability, let’s be on the lookout for common values that we can build conversations and relationships upon. I believe we can both work for our aspirational constitutional values by both truth telling and collective action and listen for those areas we can agree on – even those with whom we differ on some issues.
Let’s take some time to check our sample size. We might find ourselves somewhat relieved if we do – and find a renewed sense that there is some hope for us after all.
Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash