Liberals and conservatives react so strongly against each other because both believe they know what the "other" group believes and then get mad when they're wrong. Why are they wrong? Because everyone has a different set of political views and different opinions on individual issues. Sure, some people tend towards trends. But the majority of people have both liberal and conservative ideas and when they meet and stereotype it causes a lot of anger.

Likewise many people become accustomed to the assumption that their view is "true." When a "truth" becomes challenged they take it as a personal attack. The problem is that no opinion is true. What do I mean by that? You cannot prove an opinion. If it were provable it's a fact, not an opinion. "The sky is blue" is a fact. You look up and the thing is blue, unless it's night, then it's probably more of a blackish color, but now we're getting into details. "Killing is wrong" is an opinion. It's a statement of value. Statements of value are never facts.

This is a difficult concept. It sounds simple but it's not. Very few things are facts. They're easy to confuse. "The sky is blue" is a fact while "the sky is beautiful" is an opinion. Even if every person on Earth agrees that the sky is beautiful it doesn't make it true. It's why statistics are so often used to argue opinions. They cannot be proven with fact and thus it becomes "most people agree with me so it's true." That doesn't make it true. It just means a whole lot of people share your opinion.

It's really, really hard to admit that all your opinions are not facts. Yes, even for me. Is it hard for me to admit that my belief that abortion is murder is an opinion? I have a million arguments. I can say that a fetus has it's own DNA (a fact) and thus is not part of a woman's body. A kidney is part of her body. You do a DNA test on a kidney, or hair, or fingernail, or any part of a woman's body and it will come back as her DNA. You do that on a fertilized zygote and it comes back as "someone else." I can say that dependence does not equate ownership. An infant is completely reliant on outside care. If you just leave an infant lying there it will die. So is it still part of her body until it can walk and open the refrigerator?

Regardless there are millions of Americans out there who do not share my value. Likely the majority reading this right now do not share my belief. Unfortunately I have to admit that my opinion is a statement of value and that your opinion is valid. I don't agree with it. I don't believe I should be forced to agree with it (and forcing it wouldn't happen anyway). But if you tell me that you believe a fetus is just a collection of flesh there's really nothing I can say that proves you wrong. What defines a life is a statement of value. No fact can prove the value.

Now see how much you likely wanted to argue with my "points?" How you have your list of "facts" that disprove my own? The desire to convince others to share your opinions is strong and creates a lot of hostility when other people just don't "get" your value.

That being said all values are not created equal. While values cannot be proven or really disproved policy is a real construct and can be argued. For instance the majority of people agree that murder is wrong and should be punished. So we have a law against murder. If someone kills someone else and in their opinion it's no big deal that doesn't mean we just sit back and go "OK, well, that's your value so carry on." The basis of democracy is the idea that we put the power to decide such policies in the hands of the majority so that communities are allowed to decide on what values the group shares. Granted it's a bit more complicated than all this. I've already written half a book, not going to actually go through all of it. I guess you could say it's all my opinion anyway .

I can safely assume the majority of people never think about this stuff. They have their worldview, there are the "others" who think otherwise, those people are wrong, and they're happy with that. It's simple, it's easy to categorize, and allows them to do more important things like live their lives. People naturally gravitate towards others who share their values because it makes interaction easier. There's no culture shock, no confusion, and little misunderstanding because the people are coming from the same or similar perspective. It's one of the main reasons why people have always grouped into "ethnic groups" and the basis of nations and communities.

When people of different perspectives meet however they're forced to either admit their values aren't shared and accept that or just choose to believe they have the right way and the other guy is wrong (AKA ethnocentrism). The U.S. is ethnically diverse, in general, and thus these conflicts arise often. In countries where different ethnicities are rare, such as Japan, these conflicts are much less common. As communication becomes more globalized these conflicts become more obvious as people's basic opinions are challenged by more and more people who don't share those opinions.

And if you don't agree with any of that, well, you're completely, totally, one-hundred-percent wrong.

Jacquesne