Breaking the liberal bubble

Were you surprised when Donald Trump won the 2016 U.S. election? Were your friends and family surprised? Were the people you follow on Twitter surprised? Were the journalists you saw on TV surprised? If you answered “yes” to some of these questions, then you may have been living in a “liberal bubble.”

The term liberal bubble rose to popularity in the days after the election. Shocked, some people tried to explain why so few had seen Trump’s win coming. It wasn’t that people weren’t supporting him—they were. And it wasn’t that people weren’t predicting he would win, or talking about it—because some people were. The problem was that a lot of people surrounded themselves with others who thought the same things as them. They followed people online who supported their beliefs, and surrounded themselves in real life with people who agreed with them. For a lot of liberals, or #NeverTrump-ers, this meant contact with Trump supporters was limited.

Most people were fine with this because it kept them in a comfortable, familiar place. But then Trump shocked the world and won the election.

It wasn’t just citizens who were living in this bubble, though. Much of the media was too. From the beginning, some journalists wrote Trump supporters off as idiots who didn’t know what they were talking about. Many didn’t even consider the possibility that Trump could win. Many news organizations were confident that Hillary Clinton would win the election—so much so that Newsweek published an early edition of their magazine proclaiming that Clinton had won. This meant that many people who consumed news were constantly exposed to this certainty that Trump would not win, further adding to their liberal bubbles.

However, this “bubble” isn’t exclusively a liberal problem. Some Trump supporters live in their own bubble—they fear anyone who is different than them. This helps to explain the support of Trump’s travel ban on people from six Muslim-majority countries, the support of his repeal of policies protecting transgender students and the support of his plan to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico as part of his crackdown on illegal immigrants.

These executive orders, policies and plans all target people who may been seen as different by Trump supporters, especially those who have live in rural, predominantly-white towns. The impact of this is profound. Because of the bubble some Trump supporters live in, American families are being torn apart as people are detained or turned away at the border; transgender students are living in fear; and hate crimes are rising.

It may seem safer to stay in our bubbles, to only connect with people who share our opinions. Some people might think it is better to stay away from people who seem different than us. It can be difficult to have conversations with people who we disagree with—especially when those people deny that everyone is equally entitled to human rights—but it is critical to at least try to have these conversations. Maybe some Trump supporters would begin to see Muslim people in a positive light if they were able to have a real conversation with them and get to know them. And maybe some anti-Trump protesters would find more productive ways to fight for equality in Trump’s America if they took the time to try to understand where Trump and his supporters are coming from.

The reality is that not all Trump supporters are coming from a place of hate and bigotry, as some liberals may think. Many had lost their jobs, and were hoping for economic change. Does this justify voting for a man who repeatedly expressed sexist, homophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic, xenophobic and racist views? Maybe not.

But having honest conversations would allow people to at least try to set some of those views straight. These conversations would allow everyone involved to be exposed to different points of view which would ultimately expand their understanding of the political climate they are living in and the people who are involved in it. In addition to having these conversations, there are other ways we can begin to break out of our bubbles, such as reading articles from journalists who have political views we disagree with or following politicians from parties who we don’t support on social media.

Hearing the other side can be difficult, especially if you are steadfast in your views. But even people with strong convictions can find room in their minds, and hearts, to be open to new ideas. If breaking out of our bubbles leads to a better understanding for all parties involved, then ultimately it is worth it.

Photo: Kayla Velasquez

The views presented in this article do not represent the views of Journalists for Human Rights