Political discourse is dying....very well might be dead

Recently, a childhood friend of mine was arrested. I looked up articles about the incident, and got a few different results. He was arrested after participating in an anti-Trump counter-protest at a Pro-Trump rally, and is suspected of having thrown a smoke bomb and lighting off fireworks. Now, I don't condone this behavior, obviously. Trump supporters have every right to support their man. Anti-Trump people have the right to voice their dissent. But these two camps should never interfere with the other's right and ability to do so.

Now, this episode is slightly different from the other counter-protest arrests, as he is the son of a well known politician. So the articles were long winded, talking about the arrest, the implications, the response from his father's PR, etc. And all that was well and good, to be expected. Then I scrolled down to the comments on one of the articles....and that's when I saw some of the most vile, mindless, hateful words I've ever encountered.

There were the obvious "Special snowflake isn't so special now" comments, the ever popular "cuck" bullshit, and of course everyone and their mother was quick to take the sons actions and immediately assume the father approved of the behavior. But there were also comments about how 'he obviously was raped by his father, look at his purdy little mouth', or 'throw him in jail, see how he likes the long dick of Trump justice'..there were even comments, for some reason unbeknownst to me, about his younger sister, who had nothing to do at all with the incident, and how they'd like to 'try her out, just like I bet her brother tried her out'.....all ridiculous, horrid statements.

I know the internet is not the place to go for civil conversation, and that many of these comments are either from shut ins who don't represent a side as a whole, or simply from trolls (although in this day and age, far too many people hide behind the character of "Troll" to just be fucking assholes). But the commenters who WERE voicing their dissent with civility, and even having discussions with the other side in their threads; even these normal people were just accepting the hateful crap being spewed all throughout their comment threads.

It has seemingly become the norm to instantly revel in any misfortune that befalls someone with an opposing political view, and to find anything and everything you can to belittle that opposition. I know it is nothing new...I'm just so tired of it. I'm tired of not being able to sympathize with the other side, because they attack my viewpoints with reckless abandon. The people of the world need to learn to stop, listen, and learn from their counterparts. If you understand why the other side thinks the way they do, you can better explain to them why you think they way you do, and both of you will benefit