Why we're behaving like children over Megxit.

That’s an insult to children, but stay with me for the two minutes it will take you to read this.

 “Trump is an idiot; the tens of millions of people who voted for him are idiots. They were all wrong.”

“Meghan is so manipulative, I just know she had this all planned from the start – good riddance!"

“I HATE maths – it's sooo boring”

When our kids jump to conclusions about disliking someone/ some food/ an activity/ a lesson or, in the Webber family, a specific brand of supermarket pizza (I kid you not) we educate them by challenging them to see both sides of the story, don’t we? But when watching THE interview on Monday night I found myself drawn into a similar style of blinkered argument with friends.

 Brexit, Trump, Megxit or Maths. You are either for or against, with us or against us. Why?

We don’t jump to the same conclusion when we make other choices in our lives. We don't either get engaged or walk out within five minutes of a first date. We don’t have the same exclusive support of, say, Starbucks over Costa, and parents we meet at the school gates aren’t immediately polarised as either our best mates or "total ******s". 

 So why do we fall for the media every time? 

We know the billions of pounds spent on algorithms, targeted adverts and newsfeed articles that we all consume are spent for a reason. Yet we usually return to the same place for our information and ignore others because we believe that they are biased: "The BBC is too left, the Telegraph too right for me". We all tend to read what backs up our personal views – it's just human nature. Our own opinions are shaped by the unswaying bias of the authors and journalists in our society. When was the last time Richard Littlejohn or Polly Toynbee wrote an article entitled “On reflection I was wrong about…”

 In every other area of our lives we compromise. Think of how many times you compromise in a day (swapping shifts with a colleague; allowing the kids extra screen time; agreeing to an open the white rather than the red). A harmonious society which is prepared to compromise is really hard to influence. Allow the masses to fight among themselves and they will be too busy to challenge the Masters of Mankind, too preoccupied with looking the other way to demand change and accountability from their leaders.

Thankfully, we live in a free society in which we have the right to hold the press to account but it is so important that we step back and recognise what impact said press is having on us. If we insist on reading clickbait, we should make the effort to read an opinion we don’t like and challenge ourselves to understand their point of view.

Debate is fundamental, but next time we make a stand we should perhaps be prepared to be challenged, to support our argument and, God forbid, even change our mind.