Left vs. Right. Or Meet in the Middle?

On the tenth of March, 2017 Mark Duplass writes an article aimed at both the left(liberal) and right (conservative) sides of America for them to try and find common ground. He talks about the generalizations of both sides and agrees that some of them are not always wrong, while talking about there being a grey area between the two sides. Now, Duplass admits to his ideals not being researched and mentions how his being an actor may not be the most credible thing for some of the people of American. But in him admitting these things it almost makes him more credible; he’s not trying to make it sound like he’s always right. When he gets past this moment, he begins with his argument.

In his argument, he claims that the left and right should be trying to work together instead of just arguing about our differences. In finding common concerns or interests we could all do things for the better of our country and this world. While contemplating throwing a party for his 40^th birthday, Duplass decides instead to have a small get together of his friends which are a mix of liberals and conservatives. When he gets them together they have a conversation about the causes each of them believe in to try and find some common ground that they can try and work together to fix, hypothetically. When they talk about this they all agree that “children, hunger, and clean water were causes that [almost] everyone” could agree on. Once this was discovered they all donated to a fundraiser started by Duplass and his wife to donate money to a children’s charity. Conservatives and liberals got together and made a little money to help an organization that advocates for children.

Duplass concludes his argument with a pull to action. He mentions how despite most things disagreed upon, if we can all come together and support topics we can all agree need to be fixed, then that will keep growing and growing and lead to more good than bad. He wants both sides to step back away from all the disagreeing and focus on working together because more positivity can be made than all the negativity that stems from always having to be on opposite ends of the spectrum. As someone who deeply believes in things that are never “this or that” this logic makes a lot of sense. In a time like this we all need to come together, respect our differences, and try to find compromise for each side to be happy. It may be too good to be true, but I believe it can happen if we try hard enough.