Echo Chamber (noun)…an environment where a person only encounters information or opinions [or people] that reflect and reinforce their own [worldview]. --gcfglobal.org
Let’s call him Charlie.
He’s been my friend for almost fifteen years, and I’ve worked with him in both a personal and professional capacity. He is unlike just about anyone else in my entire life and experience. Not because he is a fan of the Saint Louis Cardinals baseball team, and I root for the Red Sox. Nor for the fact he rides an electric bike, a heresy for this devoted old-fashioned cyclist who still believes in pedal power. What sets him apart in my world is that he is…
A political conservative.
A believer in things I do not believe in. On just about every issue, Charlie, and I most often part ways. He takes a right and I take a left. He moves toward conservation, and I stride towards liberality. We disagree on gun control. Trump versus Biden. Small government or big government. Even in the ways we look at and think about American history, we’ve got conflicting views.
Yet we are a rare breed in these divided times we live in and in this divided land we live in. We actually continue to talk to and to dialogue with each other, and not so much to change the others’ mind, no. For me it is to hear what the opposition has to say, to listen to a worldview different from my own, to stand in someone else’s shoes. To get the scoop on an opposite belief and not from some hot air talking head on CNN or Fox News. Neither from some over the top opinion piece in the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal. Sometimes, as a self-admitted “lefty” I just need to hear “righty” ideas straight from the source. No filters. No interpretation by a go-between.
Just the straight stuff.
Has Charlie changed my mind on any issues? I think somewhat. I also think I might have pushed him to reconsider an opinion or two. But the real gift of our friendship and our ongoing discussion is that we dare to talk to one another and to listen to one another and to respect one another. Even love each other as fellow human beings and as children of God.
One of the things that scares me most about these polarized days is the contempt that so many folks show and speak with towards fellow citizens who vote differently than they do, who think about culture or politics differently than they do. Agreeing to disagree has given way to be downright disagreeable, even violent, towards those we diverge with.
Yes, at times we should get angry or vexed about what we believe, about what matters the most to us when it comes to our shared lives in these United States. I can be as passionate in belief as any other committed soul. But if we do not and cannot find civil ways to talk to and listen to our neighbors, who look at life from a different perspective than our own, then we are doomed to disunity, incivility and chronically logjammed politics.
Doomed to a civic life where folks on the fringe, who yell the loudest and are often so self-righteous, never give in. For them there is absolutely no room, ever, for compromise, for finding common ground, or even to work for the common good. These days they seem to be running the show on and not listening to anyone who disagrees with them.
And increasingly Americans no longer live in politically diverse areas where they might actually be exposed to different ideas and people. One study found that since 2004, the number of counties where one candidate experienced a super landslide (more than 80 percent of the vote) has increased from 6 percent to 22 percent of all U.S. counties. The lingo to describe such ideological movement is the big sort—we are sorting ourselves more and more into deep red and deep blue places. Echo chambers. Lands where everyone else believes just what you believe. Says just what you want to hear. Looks just like you. Worships like you. Lives like you.
I don’t want to live that way. I need to try and live a life that sees and listens to others who are different than me, and not just in politics. White, I need to spend more time with and deepen my relationships with folks of color. Straight, I need to hear what my LGBTQ friends have to say. Liberal, I must open my ears and close my mouth at times, so I can see this world through another set of eyes.
God made this world so diverse. What a waste and shame it would be for me if the only birds I flock with have the exact same color feathers as me. That’s a pretty narrow way to live. Pretty boring too. I need to be with people like Charlie and he needs to be with people like me too.
Who is your “Charlie”? Ask them out for a cup of coffee. Then just listen.
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