By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

Political polarization just seems to grow in our
society as we become entrenched in our ideas and dismissive of others.

A panel of Missouri Western State professors will
discuss the trend during a panel discussion tonight at East Hills Library.

College of Liberal Arts Interim Assistant Dean,
Edwin Taylor, says one of the questions that will be explored is why have we
lost the ability to get along when we disagree politically? Why do we feel the
need to vilify and demonize?

“And turn a person who is a friend into an enemy
simply because of who they supported in the last election,” Taylor tells
KFEQ/St. Joseph Post in an interview.

Taylor says it’s important to understand what is
happening in our society.

“In part, because I as a political scientist, I feel that this increasing polarization is incredibly destructive for our
ability to govern, which is very different than winning elections,” Taylor
says.

The panel, entitled “Donkeys, Elephants, and All
the Drama,” will explore the history of political polarization, the rhetoric of
polarization, the social dynamics of polarization, and the contemporary
polarized landscape. Chair of the Social Sciences and Humanities and School of
Fine Arts, Dominic DeBrincat, is one of the panelists as is David McMahan,
chair of the Department of Communication. The panel also includes Psychology
Department chair, Kelly Henry, as well as Taylor.

Taylor says the panel of professors will consider
why so many have become so inflexible.

“If I’m rigid, if I refuse to move, if I refuse
to acknowledge there’s anyway but my way then we’ll never go anywhere, because
we’ll never choose to walk on the same road together,” Taylor says.

Taylor says our society must regain the ability
to talk to each other and listen to each other.

“Which means we have to embrace a principle of
empathy that there’s a reason why people believe these things and the more we
seek to try to understand that the better we will know these people and the
better we can find ways that we can say, well, these things you believe in,
these things I believe in, but clearly there’s some things we both believe in
and we can work to try to move forward using those principles.”

Taylor says he hopes those attending the panel
discussion will come away with a better understanding of society and of
themselves.

“Sometimes when we hear ideas that sort of clash
with our principles, it makes us uncomfortable and it makes us have to analyze
our own thoughts, but that’s the whole point of conversation and dialogue,”
according to Taylor.

The panel discussion begins at 6:30 this evening
in the Theater Room at the East Hills Library, 502 N. Woodbine, St. Joseph.

You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.