(The actual problem is nicely highlighted in this article&#x27;s most popular Reader Picks comments)<p>There is a popular narrative about what it means to be conservative, liberal, progressive, etc.  This narrative is a small simple band in a vastly complex spectrum of views.  Unfortunately, we have come to the point where the narrative is being echoed so much that it&#x27;s impossible to have a conversation framed outside the popular narrative.<p>We have all been trained and self-trained to pigeonhole each other based on these meaningless labels to either a) dismiss each other or b) rally together to dismiss the &quot;other&quot;.<p>The one thing that we can&#x27;t do is suspend our emotional biases and sincerely listen to alternate narratives.