FARLEY The power of perspective: why our opinion page embraces diverse viewpoints

Do you see something on our printed opinion page you disagree with?

It’s highly probable since it contains content that is both in support of and against topics on either side of our current political divide.

Unlike social media, we don’t want to be an echo chamber. We don’t want to repeat or expand only upon one side of an issue or story. We hope to provide a variety of points of view on a wide range of issues.

It doesn’t mean we personally support one over the other, or seek to undermine any given side or point of view.

It’s important to read and learn not only about what you agree with but also what you don’t. Sometimes you might learn something that alters your point of view. You might gain a perspective that helps you understand the other side, even if you don’t agree with it. Or you might get a better depth of knowledge that reaffirms why you believe what you believe.

This is where our conversations on politics should stem from. It shouldn’t be about brow beating anyone into silence, scoring points through sharp one-liners or amassing as many followers to one point of view as possible in a gotcha battle.

If you want the state of the world to improve, those are the starting points. Not the sad reality we face today across our news feeds of oneupmanship.

I don’t pretend to be smart enough to understand all of the worlds problems or the impacts on them. I don’t have magic solutions that would fix anything without causing another problem.

But I can tell you one of the earliest lessons I learned in the backseat of my parents car as one of three children squished in for long road trips with too little leg room. Shouting and shoving never solved anything or made the trip any more comfortable. It was compromise that created the ability for us to coexist.

Donna Farley is the editor of the Daily American Republic and Dexter Statesman. She can be reached at dfarley@darnews.com.