With the egotism spewing from current American leadership, I think it’s important for every citizen to employ a basic strategy for digesting information. The rhetoric is so outrageous and polarized (and in many ways designed to be) that it requires some basic steps to absorb it:

Actively listen — do not multitask (there’s no such thing), focus on what is being said and how it’s being said
Pause — let your brain assimilate the information, give yourself a minute to process
Reflect — compare what is being presented to what you already know, to the opposite ’side,’ and if necessary, learn more about the situation
Discuss with others / share online — after you have completed these steps, you will have understood what you’ve consumed and can rationally add to the discussion

We cannot silo ourselves in our positions on anything right now, given what is happening in the country. We must join the conversation and take action. But in order to do that, we need to be able to sift through all the blaring information being thrown our way. If we can do this, we can see reason as well as empathize with our fellow citizens. If we can do that, we can change this country and the world.