Letting go of our stereotypes
Generalizations can be generally true, but there are plenty of people who are heterodox on any number of issues.
All conservatives do not think alike. All Christians do not think alike. All conservative Reformed Christians do not think alike. Yes, there are issues where the majority agree, but assuming someone’s beliefs (wrongly) and then scolding them for your erroneous assessment of their beliefs is obnoxious. As an example, a friend wrote a post back in April 2020 about COVID-19 which started like this:
Oh my. To get pastors who are pro-life to admit the civil authority is to be submitted to in quarantine laws seems close to hopeless.
A couple weeks later, when he posted an informational link about COVID-19, someone commented:
I’m sick of you people that think your beleifs Trump science. Covid is not a hoax not fake science. Conservative Christians are the ones spreading lies and they need to stop.
This was a problem with forums in the 2000’s, and I have even seen it in letters to the editor. However, it has accelerated with social media. If someone is generally conservative or “progressive,” they are assumed to hold a wide variety of beliefs. Generalizations can be generally true, but there are plenty of people who are heterodox on any number of issues. I was more hawkish than most of my friends on pandemic mitigation measures, but even I was falsely accused of thinking the Communist Virus was “a bunch of hooey.” Often when corrected, the critic will say “I don’t believe you” rather than admit he is wrong.
But we have an obligation to tell the truth. For Christians, this is obvious from Scripture. But this virtue is important for our culture as well. We should not assume everyone on the Right or Left believes every single thing that everyone else believes. Instead of saying “you believe this,” you should ask, “do you believe this?” When you approach a discussion from a position of humility instead of as an accuser, you might actually find you have more common ground than you thought.
Empathy is helpful too. We do not like it when someone makes a false claim about us, so why are we so quick to make false claims about others - and then double down when we are corrected? This is not exclusive to the Right or Left. I see the same thing over and over again from both sides. If you object to something, the accusation is almost always “But this other thing over here is OK, right? Hypocrite!”
So stop assuming. Ask questions instead of making accusations. Above all else, be willing to admit you were wrong. Behave like the person you are debating is not a nameless avatar or an enemy to be defeated, but a human being. In case you think I am being self-righteous or “above the fray” here, I am writing to myself as much as anyone else. I have seen the same behaviors in myself. We all need to do better, and we can improve our political culture, one post and one sentence at a time.