2024 has been an eventful year, for better or worse. With the rise of the internet and social media, it comes with no surprise that polarization remains consistently high throughout this year. Tensions are heightened to the point that the word “polarization” is Merriam-Webster’s 2024 word of the year.
Earlier this year, filmmaker Joseph Sim traveled across the country talking to numerous different people and asking them all the same two questions: 1) how did we lose our connection with our neighbors?; and (2) how do we get it back?
Sim’s theory is that if people take the time to be more curious with each other, there would be less anxiety and tension, reducing the level of polarization in our discourse. He believes that when we build genuine connection with those around us—getting to know and finding common ground with one another—it is more likely that we can disagree without hating the other person.
His road trip across America reaffirmed that belief of his, and maybe even more.
“The gap between people is less about politics—although it’s part of it—and more about their lack of empathy and understanding, which has been crowded out by fear,” said Daniel, a Georgetown University Professor on the subject of polarization, in the documentary. John, a Southern Virginia University Professor of Philosophy, echoed a similar thought, that human beings need to have a relationship with one another, built upon caring and trust, before they can engage with each other’s ideas.
For Sim, respect was one of the biggest, if not the biggest, components during the production. He didn’t want to shove his camera to strangers on the street like many YouTubers or social media influencers do—instead, he tried to approach them respectfully and handed them his printed business card to build credibility. It was only after they agreed to be on film that Sim started to roll his camera. He thought it was that “respect” which had helped these people to open up to him and give genuine answers to his questions.
“I didn’t bring up politics at all unless they did,” Sim said. “It can be tricky if you start any conversations with political topics. So I started our discussions with basic questions like ‘How are you?’ or ‘What are you up to?’ before diving into the two main questions in order to gain their trust.”
Most respondents had somewhat or very positive reactions to his approach and questions in the released documentary. While there were no striking outliers (i.e., anyone with a contrasting response) during the road trip, Sim did note there were people who leaned a bit much into a specific party or ideology, so his team had to cut those parts out. “I didn’t want the documentary to feel outdated,” he said. “It is a staggering coincidence that the documentary was produced and released on the same year as the U.S. election, but I still wanted it to be relevant for many years to come.”
“There is reason to hope not because we agree on all of the issues, but because on the issues that we disagree upon, we still disagree as good people,” said John, National Ambassador of Braver Angels, in the documentary. “It only works if we listen to one another.”
“People never act out of anger just because—like, there’s always something that is causing them to act a certain way,” said Megan, a musician, in the documentary. Sim reiterated her assertion by saying that the fuel of polarization comes from the emotion, not the ideology. Tyra, a barista, expressed a similar sentiment. “If you take the time to listen, you’ll get everything you need, including how they’re feeling.”
Given people’s natural tendency to behave “positively” on camera, responses might have been different if it were an audio or written interview. Sim’s team had taken into account that some people might hold back a little bit in their answers due to their appearance on camera, so they took a big sample during the road trip to avoid any sample biases — as well as taking a leap of faith that people are generally aware of how toxic and damaging polarization is.
One of the biker respondents claimed that Americans would likely agree on 95% of the issues that we have, but the media likes to focus on the 1% or 2% that we don’t. Radio/TV host Boyd argued the same thing in the documentary, and that “there are a lot of incentives in the media to go to the extreme” because it gets clicks and engagements. This also applied true to Amy, a political fundraiser, who said, “It will stop when there’s less of a demand, so it will stop when people stop responding to those.”
“I think the divisions come from assumptions or lack of generosity towards those things you don’t know about. If you don’t have a lot of contact with people of certain nationality, ethnicity, or religion, your imagination is going to make up the difference and that’s often not generous,” said James, a teacher, in the documentary. “What is underrepresented in your life is overrepresented in your imagination.“
While Sim’s main goal in producing the documentary is to talk to numerous different people across the U.S., he also wanted the film to be a medium for others to be curious about their surroundings, including their neighbors, the issues in their communities, and even the rise of technology or digital media itself.
“The key is curiosity. I’m hoping that, maybe, with enough curiosity and enough strangers, we hear something that we haven’t yet,” said Sim in the documentary. “And the best part is you’ll never run out of strangers; you’ll never find nothing to get curious about.”