The Not-So-Great War of Ideas
Imagine a world where fifty percent of the country is your enemy. Your daily routine includes doing battle with multiple soldiers of the opposing side. Most battles end with a few minor wounds, which is good because the next day you have to be prepared to do it all over again.The war effort goes on for decades with no end in sight. There's no real leader of the war, so there's no one to surrender.It may surprise you to hear that this is exactly the world we live in today.No, this war doesn't involve heavy artillery, and you don't even have to be drafted for duty because of the excess of volunteer recruits.
This is the great war of ideas.
I competed in extemporaneous speaking in high school. I researched and gave short speeches on international and domestic current events.The first thing I learned was that current events don't stay current for long. They pop up and disappear at insane rates. Every few weeks, there's a circulation of events people concern themselves with.In 2016 alone, we've dealt with the primary U.S. election, Harambe, the MAIN U.S. election, police racism, Pokemon GO, the Olympics, and the Brexit.I could go on longer, but I won't.We have a constant refresh on news content. We all formulate opinions on these issues. Anyone who agrees with that stance is with us, and anyone who opposes that viewpoint is against us. But we have to stop this. If this doesn't come to a halt, our country will continue to decline.Here's why.
This war isn't solving problems
I present, for your consideration, Black Lives Matter. Have they solved the problem through their actions?Ever since the narrative of racial discrimination in our police force began circulation, Black Lives Matter has been there to tell their interpretation of the stories and show us how mad we should be about this. But let's take a step back and realize that each cop that shows up in the news because of this method comes from the police force of one district. We live in a country with millions of people, yet these officers get special attention because Black Lives Matter says they should.If you visit BlackLivesMatter.com, you won't find a single way to effect policy change. You'd think BLM would be concerned with contacting lawmakers or leading in reform efforts, but no. They're more concerned with gaining your membership and donations and starting riots- I mean peaceful protests.Many justify the actions of whichever side they're partial to without evidence. This Us/Them mentality perpetuates racism because it furthers the idea that you should support someone because of their label, not their actions or character. Facts are taking a backseat to preconceptions on both sides, and it doesn't fix anything.This war of ideas as we know it doesn't solve problems. It makes them last longer.
The Solution
We need more open communication. We need to wage our war based on facts, not demographics. We need to stop debating online and start having good debates. The sooner we see citizens as fellow men and not our enemies, the sooner we can start regaining the strength our nation once had.Just as soon as we lay down our weapons and say, "No more."