I find political discourse to be distasteful and the assassination of Charlie Kirk only made it worse. Instead of working together to bridge differing views, either side of the political spectrum have been point scoring.
I'd normally not have an opinion about the political situation in the West but as you may already know, I live in the UK, so I'm impacted by the politics. I try to add my voice in the safest way I can but the scene is quite hostile.
It goes without saying that killing of any person is a bad thing. Disagreeing with political views and opinions is definitely not a reason to cause harm to someone.
I think the scary part in all this is that both sides of the divide think they're "right". Both sides genuinely believe that their political view gives them the moral high ground, and as such, the other side should be silenced.
The way I see it, you can simply align to political views that benefit you. Everything else is bullshit.
There's no "correct" political view, there's no right or wrong answer, just opinions. Conservatives think one way and liberals are free to think the other way.
When you think about it, having differing views is actually a net positive for humanity. Constantly picking holes in the status quo is the only way the human race can move forward.
Right Wing
The average Nigerian has a lot of Right wing views because that's just how we were raised. For the most part, most Nigerians have a religious background, whether it be Islam or Christianity.
For example, I have a Christian background and held a lot of Right wing opinions. However, make no mistakes, I also held many left wing opinions as well.
One left wing opinion I've never hidden is the fact that I do not like or respect Donald Trump. I've found him to be incendiary, brash, undignified, and just downright silly at times. He's everything I don't want to see in a leader.
Donald Trump's rhetoric is distasteful at times and borders on racism. He may not be racist but his ambiguous public statements and brash views about immigration is contributing to a world wide movement that is making my life harder.
Right wing proponents all over the world have all jumped on the bandwagon to blame foreigners for all their problems. It started off as a movement against illegal migrants and has now evolved into a full on xenophobic campaign to kick everyone that isn't of a specific skin tone out of their countries.
The proponents of these movements have been spreading propaganda to tap into the public's fear of the unknown and invariably, get their wishes. Ultimately, politicians want power and will do whatever it takes to get it. They don't mind collateral damage.
However, on the flip side, I understand Trump has an endearing multitude of followers willing to do the unsavoury on his behalf because of his positives. From what I understand, he offers brutal honesty and speaks in a way that appeals to many.
The Left
I won't call myself a liberal because at times, I feel like the left's constant pandering is overwhelming. However, I'll unequivocally take the left's rhetoric over the pseudo-racist views that have been bandied about by the right, especially when it comes to immigration.
I think the mantra of the Liberal end of the spectrum should be "live and let live". However, I do find it hypocritical that despite this, cancel culture propagated from the left side of the divide.
I believe in second chance and benefit of doubt. I may not always be open to give them but I don't think anybody should be deprived of it.
At the same time, I'm an immigrant living in the West and the left's view about immigration is favourable. So it goes without saying that I'm with the liberals here.
The Crossing
Each end of the divide is reacting to the their current situation and none have a well formed view about how to improve. Either end want what's best for their society but until there's a centered dialogue, nothing good will come out.
The masses aren't interested in well structured conversations about the issues pervading their society because those tend to have very little impact on our dopamine receptors. Sensationalism is the way and people only want to hear extreme views.
There's never going to be a centered view. Even if there is a centered political ideology, humans will never accept it because it simply doesn't have enemies.
Humans want enemies, whether they be ideological or physical. There's this strange desire to point fingers at a different group and say "they" are the problem.
On social media and every platform, there's a wave of finger pointing and whataboutism. The left think they're right and right think the left is wrong. Everybody is jostling for extremes instead of just objectively trying to pick out the best bits and removed the unnecessary bits.
At the end of the day, only the masses suffer from this divide. Politicians don't actually have human emotions, they simply want to win and be in power. If they trample on 50% of their population, so be it.