Politics is Personal: Why Social Networking May Not be the Best Place for Political Debate

Sometimes, the political and social debates we see among our friends, families and even professional colleagues is enough to pitch us into a low-grade depression.

It seems that people in the U.S. and beyond are increasingly polarized, and that people are quick to resort to name calling instead of the sort of honest, thoughtful political discourse that can lead to change.

We have found this to be particularly true on social networking sites, where in just a few keystrokes, people seem quick to question your intelligence, your intentions and even your basic moral fiber.

During the Thanksgiving break, we had the opportunity to get together with some of the people who are our harshest critics online.

Going into some of these meetings, we were nervous and felt a bit defensive.

But fascinatingly, that edginess quickly fell away over a cup of coffee, a bit of sunshine and a face-to-face interaction. We found that we were able to talk easily about our vision of educational and social justice, and the ways that we strive to build up the young people in our lives and in the lives of others.

Even in cases where our ideologies are quite different, we found that in sitting down face-to-face and sharing our own stories – how we came to believe the way we do, how our values have been shaped and why we do what we do – we quickly were able to find common ground. And the perspectives of some of our critics made more sense to us in those moments, too.

The truth is that most of us want the same things for our society.

We want young people to be responsible and have bright futures, where they are free to pursue their dreams. We want good schools, where students are equipped for the challenges of a changing society. And we want to see parents, grandparents and others who are effective in their work to support the young people in their lives.

So maybe, while social networking is certainly a powerful tool, we need to be careful that we don’t overuse it. When we lose that personal touch and forget about the humanity of our critics, it is far too easy to polarize and demonize.