Lately I've been noticing that society seems to function around the people and things we associate ourselves with. To go a little further—we often judge people based solely on these associations.
The way someone views the world is largely affected by their upbringing. This includes influences from their environment.
Whether you were brought up very well under a specific value system, or you went through horrors— like abuse, alcoholism, or homelessness—you have built a perspective about the world that is unique to you. And only you.
This perspective builds alliances with other perspectives like it. You become affiliated with like-minded people. Herein lies some of the problem.
We judge other people based on these affiliations. I'm not talking about the egregiously awful ones. I'm talking about who you align with politically, religiously, educationally, etc.
We've all heard the saying, never judge a book by its cover. But we're not even doing that. We're judging a book by the bookshelf.
The reality is Harry Potter could be sitting up there next to a history textbook and we think they're the same because of the way they voted.
How wrong is that?
We're growing increasingly okay with a judgement of someone's character based on affiliations. But it's creating a ginormous chasm between people.
These days when I meet someone new, I don't want to know much about them. Let's talk about sports or beer and laugh.
Life is too damn short. Go be friends with people. Who cares who they voted for if they're cool?