The last month has been, to put it mildly, eventful in American politics. With the at-times hostile protests from leftists at the University of Missouri to GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump’s numerous controversial comments, November was marred by outrage from both sides of the spectrum with little room for nonpartisanship. But looking past these individuals, there was a lone bright spot, and it came from someone not known for his politics, but rather his music. On November 19, CNN released an interesting interview with country music legend Willie Nelson. As the segment began, the more-liberal Nelson was asked if he would consider smoking marijuana with the previously mentioned Trump. Nelson, a well-known advocate for legalization, …show more content…
As both major political parties have shifted farther from the center, there has also been an increase of mutual apathy from its members. Individuals on both side believe it is more important to live in a place where viewpoints are shared rather than differ. Instead of hearing the other side, we have resorted to protecting one’s owns views, producing little positive results. UNC is an epitome of this culture. This semester, we have seen conservatives sensationalize a first-year seminar regarding September 11, a pro-abortion group erase chalk messages from their opposition and students interrupt a town hall event to demand actions ranging from understandable to unfathomable. None of these incidents created change or even a dialogue, nor made people want to work together towards any possible solution. We belittled conversation, replacing it with hostility and narcissism. We should follow Nelson’s lead and be open to engaging with those we disagree with. It does not have to be large scale, but it could be something as simple as a conversation over lunch, or in Nelson’s case a