Category: Politics

Social media, trending headlines, and fake news have become the center of the modern crisis. With everything going digital and everybody voicing their opinions, we can differentiate between what is the truth and what is a lie somewhere. But this isn’t limited to our era; misinformation and biased reporting have been with us for as long as humans have told stories. What’s new is not the presence of such fake news; it’s the scale and speed at which it spreads.

Before we even invented the internet, rulers, and leaders used propaganda to control the narratives being told. Much evidence has supported this finding; rulers wanted to shape public opinion in their favor. Ancient Emperors used various coins, statues, and public declarations as a way to get into the minds of the commoners. In medieval Europe, the church controlled the access to knowledge, deciding what information the public should hear; even during the early printing day, pamphlets were often politically slanted, designed to push agendas rather than inform them neutrally.

In between all of these issues is a single human truth: we cannot unquestioningly trust the news we receive. Every messenger carries their perspective, and no one tells a story from a neutral point of view. You would have seen thousands of pieces of information today, each one coming with its own assumptions, values, and emotions. Most of the time, even with the best intentions, bias seeps in, not just in what is reported but also in how it is reported and presented.

The modern expectations of objective journalism are very new and still blooming. They emerged during the 20th century as fresh organizations sought credibility in neutrality. But even then, editorial choices, what stories would be covered, which language to use, and what sources to quote were never fully free from influence. Today, with media outlets aligned with political ideologies, the illusion of unbiased news is even harder to maintain.

The problem isn’t just fake news—it’s that we often believe what we want to think. Studies show people are more likely to trust news that confirms their pre-existing views and dismiss news that challenges them. In this way, our biases reinforce our current information bubbles.
So what can we do?

The answer is not about getting perfectly unbiased news, which is highly impossible; instead, it is about approaching news consumption with humility and skepticism. Understanding key questions like who benefits from the narrative, recognize that every story has learning. Fake news may never go away, but if we learn to question the story and the storyteller, we stand a better chance of staying informed in a world where truth is debated daily.

Politics today doesn’t feel like a discussion anymore; it feels like a fight. It is not a debate over ideas but a battle between “us” and “them.” People aren’t just supporting policies; they’re picking sides, almost like rooting for a team. Everything becomes personal once you’re on a team.

 This sense of picking a team and sticking to them is a lot about tribalism, our deeply rooted human psychology that gets us wired into wanting to belong to a group. Most of our human history, being tribal meant survival and security, loyalty meant safety and corporation, but in today’s world, those same instincts have found a new home; politics. 

Instead of survival, we now chase identity and a sense of belonging. Being politically “left” or “right” becomes part of who we are. It’s rational, not emotional. And once we are on our side as the goof guys, the other side naturally becomes the enemy. We stop listening and start judging, bias is filled in our minds, and we can’t help but fight against them. People are dismissed not because of their arguments but because of the “team” they’re on.

As we dig deeper, the issue gets worse. Our brains are so wired to think in a way that means to better ourselves, not others, we begin to filter the world through this lens of left or right. In fact, research shows that we are more likely to believe something if it aligns with our political identity and more likely to reject it if it doesn’t. In this way, tribal loyalty often overrides critical thinking.

Then there are the effects of social media, which feed us so much of what is already happening and remind us that there is always the other side that needs to be won over. It literally turns politics into a never-ending argument against the true virtue of helping, making winning the only goal, not to understand or be compassionate. 

If there’s something at stake, it’s the conversation, dialogue and curiosity. Tribal politics make it look like changing your mind is being weak and listening to others’ perspectives is a betrayal of your own. We have built walls where we should be building bridges. 

But it doesn’t need to be in this way, if we learn to let go of this tribalism, it doesn’t mean that we dont have the values or we are giving up on anything. It means that we are ready to embrace a broad perspective and honour that the person on the other side is human too.

We all look forward to a better future, even if our paths are different, our destinations are the same. 

Real change begins with empathy and compassion. Learning to listen, willing to talk without turning it into a war, not that we are enemies, but we choose to behave like one, because we want to uphold our side first. Still, once we understand that it’s never about winning, we will go a long way in bringing peace and happiness.