Changing Hearts and Minds is Hard Work. And so it should be.

I have always considered myself to be progressive. A ‘pinko lefty liberal’ as Charlie McCreevy might have said in his day. At the age of 13 I was desperate to canvass in favour of divorce in the 1986 referendum. To save the potential trauma for my small business owning parents, I relented. I joined a political party at age 16, and in late 80’s Tipperary, that was quite a bigstep. So why then is it my side of politics that worries me more in terms of how are engaging in public debate?

We have made huge progress on many issues in recent years. In particular, the two referendum results gave progressives reason to smile. But a worrying downside might be that the binary nature of those referendums, and the challenge of hosting reasonable discussion and debate in our ever increasingly online world, may be dividing us, and discouraging us from listening to others. In Ireland, we rightly despair at the level of debate in the USA and Brexit Britain. But we shouldn’t rest on our laurels and assume we aren’t headed in the same direction.

I recently spoke with my brother, a resident of New Jersey, about the US election. A Joe Biden voter living in a Republican voting county of his state, he was relieved and in particular pleased for his two daughters, that Donald Trump lost. But his overriding sentiment was one of sadness. Sadness that the majority of his neighbours and friends, the customers in his bar and restaurant voted for Trump. Because as he explained “These are not all bad people. Many are regular, everyday Americans, working hard, trying to make ends meet, and trying to achieve a better life for their children.” 

But his most striking point was about the level of debate and discussion. “You can’t blame them. They are bombarded with Fox news messages all day, telling them their standard of living is threatened by radical socialism and their local police force will be defunded. But, CNN is no better. People turn CNN on to be ridiculed and made feel they are stupid.”

Here in Ireland it isn’t uncommon to hear people talk of ‘stupid Americans voting for Trump’ or ‘stupid English’ voting for Brexit. We increasingly hear intolerance for the views of those we don’t agree with. A recent example of this was the debate around assisting terminally ill people to end their lives . The issue is now firmly on the agenda, with a number of high profile supporters including Vicky Phelan, supported by a cross party group of politicians. 

A recent Dáil vote on the issue led to the inevitable defeat that all opposition bills initially face. Likely this will mean a period of examination and reflection, with campaigning and lobbying from all sides. Already some well-respected organisations including the Irish Hospice foundation have expressed concerns, and those concerns will rightly be considered carefully.

After  the vote was defeated in the Dáil, an online image of the voting record of TDs was widely shared. “Hang your heads in shame”, “Disgraceful” “Scum” were just three of the reactions in a sea of bile that was expressed by outraged ‘progressives’. No democracy of any worth when faced with such a complex issue, which divides even progressives, would vote through such a monumental change at the first opportunity. I for one am glad that the issue will be considered very carefully, and be evidenced based with the potential impact on our society considered. 

Respect and patience needs to be shown for community members who are against the proposal, including TDs who voted against the bill. Some will have done so for deeply held beliefs, others just need more time to consider the evidence and impact. That’s how democracy should work. Shaming people for their beliefs and our elected politicians for taking their responsibility seriously is something that should never be simplified to a social media meme. 

We need to make the space for the wider community, including our elected representatives, to consider these issues at a pace. We need to listen to concerns, and show patience and tolerance for their views. We have to do the hard work to bring people with us on the journey. It is how we have won so many of the battles over many years and how we will win in the future. Changing hearts and minds is hard work, and so it should be. But the reward – progress and a less divided society with solid support for democracy - is priceless.

The alternative is we divide into our yes/no black and white camps. We look down on others and spend our time on street corners, phones at the ready to record anyone who awkwardly expresses themselves, then share them for an online shaming of the latest ‘Karen’. That’s not progress, it’s not even progressive activism. It’s tokenism and ‘clicktivism’ at best, and it doesn’t change a single heart or mind.