Have we lost the idea of what it means to be a liberal or conservative? Have we lost the acceptance of open and diverse conversation? Have we turned politics on its head? Have we lost subtlety and nuance?

In 1985, experimental rock musician Frank Zappa testified against the Parents Music Resource Center’s (PMRC) proposal for the parental advisory sticker on future records. Zappa was no stranger to controversy and was used to dealing with flack and negative feedback. He was constantly trying to push the boundaries of music, art and societal norms. He was outspoken, controversial and, in my opinion, a genius. The PMRC was a conservative and mostly republican group of people trying to shut down “explicit” music, or alternatively add a warning label to all “explicit” records. They tried to censor and ban records from genres like rap, metal, and rock music because it was deemed unfit for the public.

I bring this up because this is a classic case of Democrat versus Republican, the artist versus the suit or liberal versus conservative. In my opinion Zappa was a liberal through and through, believing in free speech, experimental art and uncensored music.

But recently I have seen a big shift in behavior and in the definition of what it means to be a liberal. Looking at the official definition of the word we see that it means “willing to respect or accept behavior or opinions different from one’s own; open to new ideas.” And for a very long time this is what it meant. Conservatives were not open to new ideas, and it was up to the liberals to push the boundaries of society and, in my previous case, music. But now I see the liberals being the ones quick to censor or cancel people. They seem to be the group doing the most policing of behavior. They used to strive for equality, but I don’t see that anymore. If anything, I see marginalization and alienation. Marginalization that ruins community, and enforces unnecessary labeling of others. Instead of calling someone a human, they’re a “Republican,” or a “Democrat.” These labels have replaced a collective sense of belonging.

If we take a broader look at society, we see not just marginalization at a more up-close scale, but also over-polarization as a whole. American politics especially have been split down the center and dragged apart to such an extreme scale. It is becoming impossible to have open conversations with differing opinions. All of the conversing that we do happens with people of the same opinion. No one is growing, and we all inhabit our own ideological echo chambers. This completely prevents open and intelligent conversation, and results in banal talking rather than uplifting and engaging political discourse. We should be progressing as a community, but we can’t because most of us are just looking for ways to be offended or find sympathy for our so called “oppression.” The “victimhood Olympics” has become tiresome. It might be human nature to look for someone else to blame for our troubles, but doing so stifles the exchange of ideas and prevents true character growth.

I won’t leave you with a call to action, or a quote, or a cliffhanger but rather a common fact. We are all members of the same species, and ideology, race, religion, appearance, opinion or political affiliation will never change that. We are all human. You and I are the same. Human. We need to find our way to a place where the open and free exchange of ideas is encouraged, and where knee-jerk judging and character assassination is not.