Do you have a friend who is totally committed to supporting extreme right-wing causes? I hope so. It is important that we have friends committed to both left and right narratives.
Great. You now have an opportunity to gently challenge that person to examine how he might be forming his opinions. This is an important challenge for all of us. How do we sift through the plethora of news sources to establish our positions on controversial issues?
Can your friend put aside his desired outcome and give objective consideration to what a more left leaning news source might be airing? The likelihood of that happening might seem limited but go ahead, give it a try.
Select a current news story that focuses on an issue that is particularly contentious today. This topic should be the focus of left leaning news outlets. Either CNN or MSNBC would do.
Now gently challenge your friend to give favorable comment to how that left wing news source has treated this story.
This might be very difficult for your friend to do. For that reason, it is incumbent upon you to be calm and civil as you propose this request. This will not be easy. If you fail, you will lose the chance to continue. Definitely not easy but worth the effort.
Okay, say that you have been successful in phrasing your approach. If your friend is able to put his preconceived agenda aside and articulate a reasonable commentary, good. You have succeeded in your quest to encourage objective and civil discourse.
If, however, your friend fails to shed his passionately held agenda, if he spits in your face with some inane accusation of your character, you know that you have a problem.
Sadly, your friend has not been able to suspend the spin of Fox News and other right wing outlets. This has increasingly become a problem of national significance. Too many of us cling to the news sources that parrot outcomes that we blindly seek.
And, by the way, you could flip this narrative and pose the challenge to a left leaning friend. Same challenge and, probably, same outcome.
We all need to commit to objectivity. Not easy but we must try.