Podcast Points: Philosophy Professor Discusses Importance of Political Detox

With the election month approaching, it is time to aim for healthy and balanced lives concerning politics. Thomas Hibbs, Ph.D., The J. Newton Rayzor Sr. Professor of Philosophy and Dean Emeritus of Baylor University’s Honor College, joins this week’s Baylor Connections to raise awareness on the significance of political detox, a topic that aligns with Baylor’s focus on civil discourse.

Podcast Points with Thomas Hibbs, Ph.D.

Inertia Around Political Discourse

• Hibbs describes the dangers of bad habits developing on social media surrounding politics. He recognizes when we are not meeting with people in person, our default position is assuming that someone who disagrees with us on our political views is evil.
• “The kinds of intellectual communities we can find ourselves in, can be intellectual and ideological cul-de-sacs that keep us from engaging with healthy objections to our own positions or complicated, reasonable alternatives to our own positions,” Hibbs said.

The Perception Gap

• Hibbs highlights the Brookings Institution and its study called The Perception Gap. He explains how they determined that the people who are most politically active are the worst judges of people on the other side of the political spectrum.
• Hibbs worries that if we develop habits of reducing other people to a sort of ideological litmus test, we are unlikely to get to know them in any deeper, richer way. Regarding friendships that we have, “we understand our political differences with them in a larger human context.”

Christianity In Politics

• Young Christian students and spiritually unsure students are suspicious of the instrumentalization of religion for political purposes. Hibbs points out that many young people are increasingly seeing religion as a political tool because of the “manipulation of religion for political ends.”
• “We have deep resources in our various denominations as Christians, and we have things in those histories and in our sources that we have to own up to where there have been disorders or evil things perpetrated by religious people under the guise of religion,” Hibbs said.

Occasional Detachment

• Hibbs emphasizes the need for occasional detachment or giving yourself perspective and recovering a healthy way of thinking and interacting with others on politics. He outlines five points: practice healthy news consumption, criticize ideological teammates and commend foes, pursue silence and solitude, cultivate apolitical friendships and focus on the way that scripture confounds politics.
• He depicts how exhaustion and lack of belonging are two things that stem from not taking a step back from politics to ultimately reengage in a healthy way. “A lot of us have the experience individually, or we know people in our communities, of being exhausted by our politics, and yet feeling like there are important issues involved.”

Friendship And Responsibility

• Hibbs touches on the significance of having friendships that challenge you on your political views. He encourages an “openness to being persuaded by friends and then having those friendships anchored in something deeper than the political battle of the moment.”
• As the conversation ends, Hibbs communicates why we need the political detox. He says that we need the detox partly to keep ourselves from being driven crazy by the politics around us, but then “we need it for our families and our communities.”

LISTEN TO THE CONVERSATION  

Listen to the full conversation with Thomas Hibbs on the Baylor Connections podcast.  

ABOUT BAYLOR CONNECTIONS  

Baylor Connections with host Derek Smith goes in depth each week with Baylor leaders, professors and more, discussing important topics in higher education, research and student life. Baylor Connections airs on Fridays at 11 a.m. CT on KWBU 103.3FM in Waco. The podcast is also available online or by subscription to Baylor Connections on iTunes.  

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked Research 1 institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 20,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.