an English writer and political
activists named Thomas Paine once said
to argue with the person who has
renounced the use of Reason is like
administering medicine to the dead
although he did die over 200 years ago
his message has never been more eleven
then today I remember that after the
2012 US election my fifth grade teacher
in Florida Gladys to talk about what had
happened the previous night coming from
an area where there was a diverse amount
of political opinions many of my
classmates were understandably either
very happy or very sad but we got
through our differences and we had a
fruitful political conversation or as
fruitful of a conversation as a
fifth-grade political talk could get but
it was what my teachers said after that
really stuck to me she went I like
talking to kids of all politics because
it’s the only group of people that don’t
yell each other at the time I thought to
myself
she must be wrong I thought that as
people grew up we will just learn to
respect each other even more and that we
will just live in this big utopia of
rainbows and happiness I was 10 years
old it’s so hard to argue that politics
divide people to use the United States
as an example over 40% of Americans
regardless of whether there are
Democrats or Republicans say that each
other’s party is a major threat to the
United States according to a poll dump
ever UK by Pew Research think about it
millions upon millions of Americans are
divided solely on party affiliation
alone the real question then is not if
politics to my people but why if we ever
want to mend this gap we have to look at
the root cause of the problem and
research by psychologist Jonathan gate
and Jesse Grahm may begin to provide
some insight into this issue their
research indicate that people tend to
endorse specific political policies
based on the moral values that they
already held wording I know but the
example of sex education in the United
States is a great example of this in the
United States many Democrats advocate
for a more comprehensive education
program as they believe that it will
reduce rates of teen pregnancy and stds
missions emphasizing the more liberal
values of avoiding harm or King for
others on the other side many
Republicans tend to endorse abstinence
only policies as it emphasizes the more
conservative value of maintaining purity
this reveals that political division may
not be a result of a difference in
opinion on specific policies per se but
rather a difference of opinion on moral
values and this just might be why
politics is so divisive you never
actually see people fighting over
whether Coke or Pepsi is better as
although copious obviously better
there’s just no moral conflicts that
play into this in the slightest I mean
if you’re really into soda that could be
but that’s just a little weird now that
we’ve established a main road root cause
of the problem it’s easier to discuss
solutions and for me it could be broken
down into three steps understand respect
and appeal number one understand their
moral values once you’ve begun to engage
in discussion really narrow out why they
believe the things that they do could it
be because of family up earnings
religion their environment if you only
try to present your side without trying
to understand theirs it is unlikely that
they will listen to anything you might
have to say if you sincerely show that
you are attempting to understand their
perspective no matter how much you
disagree if you do that then you will be
more this leads on to my next step which
is to respect them as a person respect
plays into the actual debate itself you
might consider attacking them with
personal unrelated remarks but this
achieves absolutely nothing try to
acknowledge that the other person is
also a living human with
thoughts and feelings crazy right but
how do I get someone to listen to me
actually and be persuaded by me you
might ask well appeal to their morals
this ties the last two steps together
you’ve established that you understand
them as a person and you’ve established
that you respect their opinions and
beliefs so it’s easier to appeal to what
they already believe in for example you
might know a Democrat who is opposed to
increase military spending you will be
more persuasive if you connect that with
if you connect that with their more
liberal values of maintaining avoiding
harm and caring for others by saying
that an increase in the military budget
will protect and aid those in other
countries that are vulnerable to
violence on the other hand on the other
hand you might also know a Republican
who is opposed to increased taxes
connect with their more conservative
value of Picher patriotism a more
conservative value by suggesting that
it’s their duty to help fellow citizens
through social programs that are funded
by their taxes now these are only two
examples but I find that this works in
most cases today I’m not trying to say
that these steps will get rid of
political order by sickness completely
it won’t but even if it events one
shouting match at the dinner table or
angry comment left on the Facebook post
I’d be happy a sharing of opinions
informs people and widens their mindset
on how their fellow citizens view the
world so when it comes to politics
understand and respect each other
because it’s the least we can do so
going back to our friend Thomas Paine
when he compared arguing with an
unreasonable person to giving dead
people medicine could be right but maybe
just maybe it’s time to bring the dead
back to life thank you [Applause]