How to temper discourse and bridge the political abyss

Some unfortunate trash talk has dominated the political conversation as the election season enters the home stretch.

From a shameful joke comparing Puerto Rico to a garbage island to a political opponent's supporters being described as garbage -- all of it belongs in the landfill of unsavory and unhelpful discourse. 

But alas, this is the harsh reality of a nation that is divided by a political chasm that only seems to be widening. 

The partisan polarization was noted by a Pew Research report that showed 72% of Republicans regard Democrats as more immoral, and 63% of Democrats say the same about Republicans. Another Pew report showed most feel exhausted (65%) or even angry (55%) when thinking about politics. Only 10% felt hopeful about the overall tone. 

It all begs the question: How did we get here and how can we do better? 

It certainly doesn't help that foreign adversaries have successfully infiltrated our social networks with disinformation deliberately created to manipulate us. According to the FBI, this is actively being done through sophisticated generative artificial intelligence that spreads fake content. 

"These include things from mimicking national level media outlets like the Washington Post and Fox News and creating inauthentic news sites posing as legitimate media organizations to using paid influencers to hide their hand," the FBI warned.  

As a recent example, a video pushed online by a "Russian troll farm" purportedly showed an immigrant with multiple Georgia IDs claiming to have voted multiple times. This did not happen, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger reassured. The video was fake. 

Still, it was shared thousands of times – the damage was done. 

The FBI advises that everyone carefully evaluate their information sources and not aid in these attempts to sow chaos and discord. 

Candidates can also do their part in mending the divide. In Montana, we've been swamped with campaign ads that are misleading at best, and oftentimes are outright lies. 

The Tester-Sheehy Senate race will go down as the most expensive ever on a per-vote basis with about $280 million spent so far, according to the Associated Press. If elected, will Sen. Jon Tester or Tim Sheehy have the courage to lead the charge to rein in campaign spending that fuels the lies? 

At an individual level, we should all recognize the noise that exists in our silos -- much of it affirmation reverb thanks to social media algorithms that are trained to turn up the volume on views you agree with. Scroll deep enough and it's easy to forget people on the other side of the aisle are fellow community members you probably work and socialize with every day.  

Take a break from the doom feeds, and remember, the oval a person fills out while inside the ballot box does not wholly define them. We are all more than our political persuasion. 

By focusing on what unites us rather than what divides us, we can begin the process of spanning the abyss that maybe isn’t as wide as we fear.