“Dialogue can not be established” division of American society

When you are watching the news in the United States, there is almost no day when you do not hear remarks by President Trump who attacks people with different opinions.

“The Democratic Party is a political party of criminals, trying to unlock the border to drugs and gangs”
“CNN and other fake news media are opposition forces”

As this is over, the air rejecting people with different opinions spread It is.

There also occurred an incident where an explosive was sent to people who accused President Trump in intense words such as former President Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary · Clinton, and CNN Television.

The man arrested was a man who was seen as an avid supporters of President Trump.

The main media pointed out that President Trump ‘s intense behavior triggered the incident, but President Cardo criticized the media as trying to use the case politically.

Before the midterm election, I feel that division is extreme.

There are people struggling before this situation.

Professor Randy Waddkins who has been researching anti-cancer drugs at the University of Mississippi. The trump regime felt a sense of crisis about trying to reduce the budget for scientific research, and ran from the Democratic Party to the House of Representatives election in this midterm election.

The center of appeal is the attraction of the space insurance system and education which everyone can receive with confidence, and the aerospace and environmental industry which made use of the viewpoint of scientists.

However, Mississippi State located in the south of the United States is a Republican ground called “Red State” after the Republican image color. The flag of the state is a conservative area where the flag of the southern army of the time which supported slavery during the Civil War was treated, and Republican incumbent members of the Army rushed to double score last time doing.

We walked around the city with Ms. Wadkins.

Wadkins speaks to the voters regardless of maintenance or liberal. However, it is difficult to argue with a conservative person. When I talked to “How do you think about health insurance maintenance?”, The answer is “An important question is not to accept the right to abortion” and “Economy and national defense are the first”.

In the area, there are not a few people thinking that global warming is a lie, sometimes the story does not engage.

Mr. Waddkins said, “There is a person who does not even convey the facts that form the basis of the debate. About 30 years ago, voters knew the experience of researching cancer and helping people understand that they are human beings who tell the truth I wanted you to have it, “he talked about the difficulty of telling an appeal in an area where there are many people with different ideas from himself.

I thought that I wanted to know the conservative people’s idea well, and I met the supporters of President Trump.

Jim Hendricks living in this area (76).

In front of my home, I have a star card and a Republican candidate’s placard. Mr. Hendricks always watches FOX news where reports close to the Trump regime stand out.

I feel that liberal media reports are biased.

Regarding President Trump, “The economy is doing fine and I am doing well with North Korea, and I am doing a lot of accomplishments and I should do more work.”

For Wadkins who is running for the Democratic Party, he said that he did not need to hear the story.

“The Democratic Party is too close to the left. I will not consider taking out from the Democratic Party.”

There was a situation where there was a situation where the political position was rejected from the beginning, because it was rejected from the beginning.

These divisions are accelerated by SNS.

The research group of Associate Professor Chris Bale of Duke University summarized the research result that when you hear opinions of different parties different from yourself in SNS, you will stick to your opinion rather than you.

It is said that the division spread further after the advent of President Trump.

Associate Professor Vale said, “In the United States politicians are more polarized than voters and are accelerating the division.Unfortunately the tide of flow does not change in the middle elections and will continue for a while.The political position It is necessary to prepare a mechanism that allows you to discuss and discuss once away. ”

So how do you regain the actual lost dialogue? There are NPOs that are active, with a tagline “Let’s Depolarize America!” (Let’s Divide America’s Breakdown!).

Immediately after the President of the Cards was elected, the NPO “Braver Angels” established at the end of 2016 holds meetings to gather and discuss Republican and Democratic supporters, respectively.

On October 13, I got a meeting in Southern Virginia.

Ten people joining Republican supporters and Democratic supporters participated.

One of them, Republican supporters Mike Jones, had little words with the supporters of the Democratic Party, and thought that “supporters of the Democratic Party believe in the lie that the media flows”.

At the meeting, people on the other side look at how each group talks about their argument.
Rule that you say nothing even if you want to argue.

Mr. Jones stared at the discussion of the Democratic supporters silently.

Among supporters of the Democratic Party, “Democratic Party is accepting the diversity that is the strength of the United States”

“The gun control is important and it leads to making the society safe.Whether their two daughters are not attacked at school, We are worried everyday ”
has come up.

Subsequently, the facilitator of the discussion urged Democratic supporters to talk about “points to be revised” and so on.

Then,
“We made a health insurance system over time but it was not perfect.”
“There is no leadership in the Democratic Party, opinions of people with extreme opinions are overlooked”
“I feel left behind There was also a person saying that “There are also people .”

When I heard these arguments, Mr. Jones began to change the impression of the Democratic Party. Mr. Jones finally said, “I thought that the supporters of the Democratic Party were deceived by the lies, but I knew that they had knowledge, although I was told that gun control is a matter of child safety, but I thought so I found out that they are also seeking solutions only because the process is different from them. ”

Many participants said that the opinion for the opponent changed like Jones, and confirmed that dialogue would be established if we strive to understand even if the positions and opinions differ.

There appeared a different appearance from President Trump who appealed only to his supportive group and create the composition “Us vs. Them”, that is, friend and enemy.

Donna Murphy, an organizer of “Braver Angels” said, “Even if the position or opinion is different, by listening carefully, you will be able to understand that you are not the enemy but the person you are the same as yourself. In addition to vocalizing my argument, it is the original way of democracy in the United States to find a place to drop. “

I always felt doubtful that they would not talk properly when I saw how trump tv supporters and anti-tramp people were interging.

I am usually based in New York, covering science and culture. If you confess, there are few opportunities to talk with card guru supporters.

In this interview, people from supporters of Republicans who met at the meeting in the state of South Mississippi and “Braver Angels” said “I want to protect their lives” or “I value my own decision on my own thing Many opinions were heard saying that it is contrary to the spirit of the United States that the government can decide in a hurry.

To Republican supporters, I realized again that the spirit of autonomy, which is important to deciding on my own, is more strongly rooted.

There were various discoveries when speaking calmly and actually, I felt that it was possible to find a clue for the dialogue.

Even though the opinions were different, it was supposed to be the form of democracy cultivated by the United States to firmly discuss the matter of dropping the argument.

What kind of decision will be made by American voters in a mid-term election that will be met in a situation where dialogue is not established? And, do you have a dialogue in Japan as well?

An era in which only information that I want to know with SNS etc. is seen, and it tends to get stuck. I felt it necessary to know the situation in the US well and think about it.