Political Debate among Friends

Few days back I met an old friend of mine after long time. We talked so many things about how's life is going etc. Initially we both had good time. But then there comes the topic of politics. My friend is a blind supporter of the AAP party where as I am somewhat politically neutral. I am not completely biased to any party but appreciate every good thing by government and condemn every poor decision them. So, my discussion with my friend was circling around some of the current decision by government. My friend being a supporter of the opposition party, condemning every decision of ruling government. I disagree with him on many thongs, soon our discussion turned into an argument. And my meeting with my old friend went sour because of political discussion. 

Isn't the situation sounds familiar to you. How many times you have been arguing with your friends , colleagues and family members on politics. And if  you and your closed ones have political differences then these political differences may affect your relationship in the long term.

Political opinion affects the image of the person

We think that the person supporting the political party is supporting the ideologies of that particular party. We assume unconsciously that the person also supports the bad deeds and corruptions done by that party. In this way, we subconsciously assume that person is different from us and whatever is different and alien to our mind and body, we reject that. And this feeling of differentiation causes the gap in relations even if it is our blood relation.

If we dislike the political party, we dislike its followers as well.

This is basically human nature, we associate the person with the political party we hate. Even the person is a closed one. Our anger is actually towards the political party but it redirected towards the person supporting that party. And same thought process is going in the mind of the other person as well. Due to this whole process, bitterness towards each other increases consciously and unconsciously.  

Never discuss politics over alcohol

As discussed above the bitterness developed is increased over the time. And it can come out during an heated exchange. So, I always recommend everyone that never ever discuss politics when both or anyone of the person is drunk. Because under the influence of alcohol we are not completely in our senses. We were not able to comprehend and judge correctly what other person say. So any argument or heated exchange can go dirty under the influence of alcohol. This could cause permanent damage to your relationship to the point from where it is not recoverable. 

How can we avoid these conflicts

We have to keep few points in mind if we wants to avoid conflict over political preferences.

• Never bring the political discussions with your closed ones in the first places. At any moment of time there are N number of things going on in your life. And all you come up is talking about some political leader who don't give a shit about anyone other than his political career.
• If you avoided the politics topic but the other person bring it anyway then better is to listen them first. Listen carefully and actively i.e. without any  judgement. And try to understand his or her point of you as well.
• If you have any disagreement then put it politely. There is no need to be aggressive. If you have listened the other person carefully then you will be easily able to counter their points. But keep the discussion as informal as possible. You are not here to win any debate.
• Never try to convince them to your political ideology. He or she is an adult. And Every grown up can have his/ her opinion. They may be wrong. But its not your duty to correct anyone. You have so many problems to deal with. Why take further burden of rectifying others.
• If you tried everything from your side and still the other person is bringing politics and arguing over it then better tell them to stop. Ask them straight away- "Can we talk on something else". If they still persists then it means that they simply love the political arguments. So it will be better to avoid that person. They will find someone as to discuss their political drama. You don't need to deal with that shit.

Final Thoughts

Having said enough I just want to conclude that don't take politics too seriously because politicians don't take common people seriously either. For them you are just a number in their vote bank. Once they win, more than working for the betterment of society, they started planning for the next elections. They are simply power hungry people with lowest possible empathy.