I come from an extended family that is very divided politically but very cohesive and welcoming as a family. This new polarized reality in our country is testing these limits in a very depressing way, something that I think our loss of civility and basic respectfulness and narcissistic "culture-of-me" plays a large role in. We have created a mainstream media that both reflects and deepens the divide (while profiting from it).
I believe that you can be very passionate about your opinions and still remain respectful of those who believe quite the opposite. For instance I believe that Trump is a fascist leader who is doing irreparable harm to our culture, our institutions and our values. Most of my extended family believes that he is a "smart businessman that will bring sanity back to Washington, and
strengthen our cultural values." So you can see the breadth of our divisions. I do not subscribe to the usual advice to just not discuss politics or religion in order to keep the peace in a family. I believe in discussion, I believe in debate and I believe in listening and reflecting,
especially when I feel that there is a great divide to be bridged. Having said that, the internet is not somewhere I usually am willing to engage in debate--it gets really ugly really fast and it's just too much vitriol to wade through for me. Plus it tends to move too fast for me and it's exhausting.