The Pattern of the Problem

The pattern of the problem I am noticing in the news and on Facebook seems to have less to do with Republican or Democrat, Right-wing or Left-wing, Conservative or Liberal, or anything in between, and more to do with the oversimplification of stereotypes. I - personally - have not seen anything from my friends that would cause me to love them any less, because I understand that an opinion that I might not agree with is not their defining characteristic. At the end of the day, we are far more alike and not nearly as separate from one another as we think. If we could embrace debates with this kind of understanding, we might get a lot more value out of points and counterpoints than we do today. Given that the world is divided into people who think they are right (wink), we should be open to and investigate differing opinions, with the exception of opinions that are akin to outright hate and discrimination, which I almost never see in my network of friends. How about you?