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While it can be pleasant to think that you and your household is an island, conventional wisdom and actual life experience would show that it’s simply not true. This becomes particularly visible whenever there is a major or minor election or just when the local intersection gets some slightly more complicated rule applied to it.

Someone asked “What's something current day America needs to understand?” and people shared their examples. So get comfortable as you read through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your own thoughts in the comments below.

#1

People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should YOUR OPINIONS AND FEELINGS ARE LITERALLY NOT THE SAME AS ACTUAL ESTABLISHED FACTS.

They’re just not.

F*****g IRKS me. The pure confidence some of you have saying whatever you feel like, and believing that deserves the same platforms as actual educated experts.

No-Consideration8862 , Getty Images/Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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Nikole
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A lot of these seem directed towards MAGA. I do wish they’d tell us more about how trump is going to “save” the economy when tons of actual economists say the opposite.

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    #2

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should Knowledge is not elitism and not trusting experts will literally k*ll us all.

    Feminizing , Ketut Subiyanto/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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    keyboardtek
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The anti science Evangelical Christians and the New Age antivaxers are a whole class of ignorance unto themselves.

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    #3

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should You are not temporarily embarrassed millionaires.

    You are closer to being homeless than to being a millionaire.

    A poor white person has more in common with a poor black person than with a rich white person.

    Class solidarity above all else.

    ShaftManlike , Getty Images/Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

    #4

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should Once freedoms are lost they are likely gone for good. A democracy is not guaranteed and is fragile. It takes checks and balances to make sure there is no overstep. Unchecked power will destroy this experiment called the United States of America.

    ehrabak , Fred Moon/Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Lucifer
    Community Member
    1 month ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    During the Boris Yelstin years when communism was slowly falling, the Russian oligarchs stepped in to make everything private and loot as much of the public wealth as possible. Then Putin came in and got the oligrachs under his thumb. In the US it started with "Trickle Down Economics" and now literal billionaires are about to do something far more worse. As Carlin said " rights aren't rights if someone can take them away. They are temporary privileges". That theory is about to be tested, again.

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    #5

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should Russia is not a friend of Republican nor Democratic party nor the people of that matter. The goal of Russian state is to cause chaos and polarization within US. Well, this goes to anywhere in the world. Divide and conquer.

    LolSumor , Michael Parulava/Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Pittsburgh rare
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The goal of Russia is to cause chaos and polarization EVERYWHERE. It's proven to be linked to some independence movements within Spain as well

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    #8

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should Social media is designed to get you to engage with it and use it. It is not a source of news. It is a source of propaganda.

    AspectTemporary824 , Edmond Dantès/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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    #9

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should The politicians/party you vote for are not immune to criticism. If anything, you should hold your own politicians to a higher standard. They’re supposed to represent you, not the other way around.

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    Lotekguy
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Rhetoric isn't representation. Don't reelect someone who didn't deliver on the promises made to get your vote the last time.

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    #10

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should How important it is to follow the global news to understand what can hit home. For example, most economies had high inflation after covid, not just the Biden administration.

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    Sand Ers
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    That circles back to the "education" point. An ignorant and incurious population won't look, and won't understand it when told.

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    #11

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should That we no longer live in a country that was established for the people, by the people. It is a business, and has been run into the ground. Good luck everyone, may the odds be ever in your favor.

    fuzzylilbunnies , Nout Gons/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

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    Megan Humphries
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It has always been for the rich. Most of the founding fathers were fairly wealthy land owners. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson are two examples; they owned large plantations.

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    #12

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should We are *very* dependent on what happens in the rest of the world.

    Americans seem to want to believe we can put up the walls and forget about the rest of the world. But from the temperature of the ocean to the price of semiconductors, what happens across the world affects us. Instability in countries across the world affects us. We're the world's biggest economy, everything we do has international implications and those go both ways.

    We do not get to opt out. Any attempt is just surrendering control.

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    Lotekguy
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And we can't control what the rest of the world does. It's not all about the USA. Every country has its own reality apart from ours.

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    #13

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should That those who do not learn from their history are doomed to repeat it.

    illegallysmolkate , Caleb Fisher/Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    keyboardtek
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Americans do not learn the true history of America. It is completely whitewashed to make the white ruling class look good.

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    #14

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should Just because someone is different doesn't mean they are an enemy.

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    Lotekguy
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And just because they aren't up to speed on your preferred vocabulary doesn't mean they are against you in substance.

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    #15

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should That you need to do your research BEFORE the election, not after.

    SacluxGemini , cottonbro studio/Pexels (not the actual photo) Report

    #16

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should Voting in your local elections is more important than voting for president. Want that police reform? Education funding spread out? Someone in congress who wants to put on term limits? Local elections.

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    PFD
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    One of relatively few here that really is meaningful for Americans specifically.

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    #17

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should America needs to understand that empathy and open dialogue are key to bridging divides, not just picking sides.

    BellaSmith11 , Simon Joseph/Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Francois
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Well that is true for any country. The art of agreeing to disagree has been lost.

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    #18

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should Equality doesn’t mean someone else is getting more or special rights than you. Also that people need to mind their own business and focus on themselves instead and let people live their lives.

    aryn505 , Usman Yousaf/Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Skogsrået
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Some people seem to think that equal rights somehow means less rights for them? It's not a pie were are talking about here.

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    #19

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should You can't vote away economic forces. The post ww2 economy is gone for very explainable reasons. Coal mining and steel plant jobs are going away for very explainable reasons. Nobody is at fault. Nobody has stolen anything. People want to vote away having to adapt to the future and this is simply not the way.

    majinspy , Charlie Harris/Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Bear Hall
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Individual people made all decisions to move these industries overseas and individals made the decisions not to stop them or at least remedy the consequences all in the name of money, stupidity and laziness. The individual responsiblity of these leaders should be researched andreveald to the general public. Not to punish them but to finally learn something from the past.

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    #20

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should How to listen, and that words mean exactly what they mean not what you feel they mean.

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    Bear Hall
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    This would be good advice for most of the people I know, independent of their country of origin. On the other hand, people speaking should understand that most of us listen with our heart first and not with our brain.

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    #21

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should How government works. How power is divided, how rules are made and enforced, how the court system works, and how each of these institutions can be manipulated to disproportionately benefit one side or another.

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    ADJ
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And how USA is not a beacon of freedom, and has not been for years.

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    #22

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should It can be hard to recognize propaganda and disinformation.

    SurprisedWildebeest , Miguelangel Miquelena/Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    StarCrossedFriday
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Yes, social media plays an interesting role there, too. You can find ‘proof’ of virtually any claim. And yet people are more convinced than ever that only they ‘know the truth’.

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    #23

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should Tariffs.

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    Bear Hall
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Or how the economy works in general. It should be taught in elementary school first. But the people in power are not interested in voters seeing through their big words. And unfortunately its true in most of the countries in the world.

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    #24

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should That one can be against violence and still be fine with defending themselves.

    Alternative-Demand65 , Zachary Ferguson/Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    CG
    Community Member
    4 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Martial artists are typically like this (myself included). I don't go out seeking a fight, but if I'm attacked, it's better to have the knowledge on how to protect myself.

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    #25

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should That's being Christian isn't the be all end all of every Americans lives.

    phageblood , Karolina Grabowska/Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Cee Cee
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Unfortunately all too often it is the cause of much misery and inequality. Dumbing down education for example. Removing books from public libraries, ensuring women don't have autonomy over their bodies etc.

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    #26

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should America needs to understand that we’re more divided than ever, and listening to each other, even when we disagree, is the only way forward.

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    keyboardtek
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I have yet to meet a conservative who has an open mind to an opposing view. It is their mental programming, like a member of Scientology is programmed to avoid all exposure to any views critical of their cult.

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    #27

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should Real solutions to the most important problems are almost always slow, frustrating, complicated, long term, unsexy. By the time they have worked people aren't even happy about it because they forgot about the problem. If someone arrives with a bunch of simple satisfying solutions to all problems they're ignorant or conning you.

    GargamelLeNoir , LARAM/Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Nikole
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    But… He said he’d lower the cost of groceries and we’d all have more money in general!!

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    #28

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should Tariffs raise consumer prices.

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    Forrest Hobbs
    Community Member
    1 month ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Import/export tariffs also harm overall economic performance, worsening industrial competiveness and frankly everything. Trade wars are bad for everyone's business. No-one wins: everyone loses.

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    #29

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should Keeping a democracy requires work and participation, lest you would rather have no voice any longer. Apathy is going to destroy this country.

    ronswanson11 , Getty Images/Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    #31

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should We are being manipulated by foreign enemies to hate each other. No other military in the world comes close to our power. China and Russia both know this, so they are using online armies to enrage us online. Sadly, it’s working and could have catastrophic consequences if our simmering fury ever boils over into widespread violence.

    mk*llham , DON JACKSON-WYATT/Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Lucifer
    Community Member
    1 month ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Yuri Bezmenov(defected Soviet journalist) actually gave an interview in the 80's describing how Russia will turn the US population against each other even more. He said it would take about 25-40 years for that goal to be complete. Social media accelerated the process.

    Forrest Hobbs
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Er, yeah, only: 40 years ago was 1984... The plan worked to schedule, I’d say.

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    Andy
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    While countries do always try to interfere with each other, blaming all your problems on "foreign" interference is exactly what dictators and corrupt governments across the world do to shift attention. There are plenty of powerful people within the US perfectly happy to stoke hatred and division because it gets them more money and power.

    Bear Hall
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Unfortunatelly, no Chinese or Russian influence is necessary for the people to turn on each other. They might add some tinder here and there, but the sparks and tons of fuel to sustain the fire are already there.

    Data1001
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Yeah, but that just shows how easy it is for a foreign power to spread gasoline all over those embers.

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    keyboardtek
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    After Trump won the election traffic on Twitter and other social media sites dropped drastically. It has been determined much of the traffic had been Russian and Chinese AI bots programmed to create misinformation in favor of Trump. Russian state TV is cheering Trump's choices for his security cabinet.

    StarCrossedFriday
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I have had so, so, so many discussions about this online. Last time it was over some outrageous post about a woman being pregnant, and her saying ‘can’t wait to see if it’s a girl or an abortion!’. In one fell swoop, this was attributed to ‘typical’ feminist, leftist and pro-choice mindsets. Which is of course utter bollocks. And yet every time I tried to point out this was very much not how the average feminist/leftist/pro-choicer thinks, and that these ‘extreme’ versions of movements are not representative of most people, I was either accused of lying or just ‘wrong’ and ‘a moron’. It’s stupid to make an enemy of half your own population, a nation is only as strong as it is divided, and yet half the time the reaction to that is ‘all those leftists/rightists can f**k off, I don’t want unity with scum like that’. It’s definitely going to have catastrophic consequences at some point.

    Sand Ers
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Domestic enemies too. Moscow Mitch needed no outside influences to drive his crusade for single-party dictatorship.

    Forrest Hobbs
    Community Member
    4 weeks ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    From where I'm sat on the right hand side of the Atlantic, Mitch McConnell appears to have had no loyalty other than to himself and the US Republican party. I've read that the Kremlin "turned" Trump in the 1980s, but McConnell - well, he's not working for foreign interests, that at least seems certain.

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    David Paterson
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The "foreign" enemies all live and work in the USA. Who is responsible for the high cost of health care in the USA, the USA is. Who is responsible for the lack of workers unions and low wages in the USA, the USA is. Who owns the UN? Who controls the Internet? The USA does.

    Earonn -
    Community Member
    4 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Look, it's one thing to be told "women should be sex and breeding slaves". It's a completely different thing if prominent AMERICANS say it and people vote for a rapist. It's not all a stab-in-the-back situation here.

    El Dee
    Community Member
    4 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Sadly humans don't need much prodding to do this. Too much credit is given to foreign powers on this front. People already hated each other. KKK, the American Nazi Party (going strong whilst Communists were hounded) racial segregation, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Incels etc..

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    #32

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should Taxes.

    I’m an American living in Europe for 8 years, I’m repeatedly told how nice it must be to have free schools, healthcare, transport, etc.

    We have all this because we pay around 40-50% income tax & 21% sales tax where I live.

    It all comes back to taxes.

    (PS… most of these aren’t free, just heavily subsidized and made affordable).

    Familiar-Adeptness-7 , Ahmet Kurt/Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    Forrest Hobbs
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    40%-50% income tax? Seriously? Here in the UK, the first £12570 of income is untaxed. The next band, up to £50270, is taxed at 20%. It's only income above £57270 which attracts 40% tax. And we have free health care. One reason we can afford it is that the NHS has huge purchasing power so can do good deals with the firms that supply medicines and medical equipment. Meanwhile in the USA, the medical industry is all about maximising profit so d**g prices are sky-high.

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    #33

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should Just because your government is doing it and not you, doesn’t mean you can ignore it.

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    Matt Richardson
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Exactly what would you have us do? We know what they've done, what they are doing, and what they will do. Perhaps write sternly worded letters to congress? Go on a show hosted by talking heads and trash them? Or maybe a daytime talk show hosted by old ladies? Publish tell-all tabloids? Maybe incite mass riots and incinerate Wall Street (That's where the real power lies)? We are not ignoring the sins of our government, but I do think the rest of world is being hypocritical when it comes to their own Governments/Religions/Cults. Take this attitude and shove it. As it stands right now, we are more divided than ever, we are more repressed, and many of us are just struggling to survive on a rapidly dwindling paycheck in the face of ever rising inflation. We are in survival mode, and sadly, right now the enemy is not only our own government, but some of fellow Americans as well. Ask any American, and they will tell you the sins of our Government, so STFU.

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    #34

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should The power of genuine empathy and open dialogue. A little more willingness to listen and to consider perspectives outside our own experiences could really help bridge divides, reduce misunderstandings, and ultimately foster stronger communities.

    Ok-Hour414 , Ave Calvar/Unsplash (not the actual photo) Report

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    StarCrossedFriday
    Community Member
    4 weeks ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Problem is, the overwhelming view these days is ‘why should I listen to his views if he doesn’t listen to mine?’. Which of course gets us all nowhere, but it certainly does make our actual enemies happy.

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    #35

    People Share 35 Things Americans Don't Understand But Should Voting is important. Dedicating time out of your day to understanding the issues is important. It's also okay if you don't have time to understand everything, and it's okay if you don't vote on everything and only vote on what you do understand. But voting matters.

    lokey_convo , Unsplash+ Community/Unsplah (not the actual photo) Report

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    ADJ
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I always wondered, why do Americans vote on business (ie. working) day. It almost seems like it is supposed to make it harder for a working class to vote.

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