What We Can Learn From Our Political Adversaries
This is an edition of Up for Debate, a newsletter by Conor Friedersdorf. On Wednesdays, he rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Every Friday, he publishes some thoughtful replies.
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Last week, I asked, “What is a valuable insight, lesson, or perspective you have learned from someone who doesn’t share your politics?”
Jo revealed that she has been speaking with a young man who holds views that she normally finds “abhorrent”:
He often goes on rants about the need to protect gun rights, he questions the underlying principles of modern notions of “identity,” he rails against anyone or any group he perceives as harboring socialist tendencies—the MAGA-adjacent list of his usual topics goes on.
But “he holds these views because of his and his family’s experiences as Chinese citizens,” she explained, “so I find I can
