Important to hear all points of view

Many highs and lows come with travel. I spent the last week in the United States, missed my family, was weary of airports, and am relieved to soon go through my last security. I was patted down, had flights cancelled and was detoured.

On the flip side, I met fabulous people, made progress on the business front and ate interesting food. When presented with a signature dish of North Carolina - fried chicken, waffles and maple syrup, I wasn't sure what to think, but it went down surprisingly well!

It has often been said that the United States is a country of extremes, and this is more apparent than ever. Perhaps it was because I went straight from Obama territory into the depths of Trump country, Utah. Normally, politics would be the last topic of conversation, but this week, it has been hard to avoid and there are few moderate opinions.

As I reflected on my week of extremes, I felt confused. The media we see in New Zealand is almost unexceptionally anti-Trump. From our shores, it has been hard to fathom, how he was ever elected.

This week, I have had conversations with Trump supporters, who despite how they are portrayed in the media, have been articulate and thoughtful. This has made me realise how much more complex this whole scene is than I thought.

Please know I would never vote for Mr Trump if I had the choice, he goes against everything I stand for, but according to his supporters, and there are many, things were going wrong and Mr Obama was no cure-all; many people desperately wanted change.

Mr Trump is supposed to represent ''middle America'', yet in my mind middle America is the most confused and under-represented. I have been wondering why this is. In New Zealand, middle-ground politics wins the day.

In general, politics of the extreme left or right just doesn't cut it for the majority. Is this a manifestation of our MMP voting system? Or will we see a change with sensationalist headlines forcing us to move more left or more right?

The way that we receive news and information, via social media, means what is streamed to us is mostly content we agree with. In our next election, it is hard to see the leaders of main parties acting or speaking in an extreme manner, but with the rise of ''click-bait'' media where the middle ground is dull and boring, who might be our extremists who create alarm and capture votes? More importantly for me, how do we create new media channels to allow us to question what we see and hear?

I am comfortable hearing anti-Trump rhetoric, but I also need to hear educated arguments for his policies.

It helps me understand the other side. Not understanding alternate arguments leads to antagonism, anger and fear which divides communities.

When our taxi driver in San Francisco found out we were from New Zealand, he nearly drove off the road as he exclaimed, ''You're from New Zealand, from New Zealand, why are you here then? We all want to live in New Zealand, it's the safe haven of the world.''

Fear has taken a foothold in communities here. For us to avoid the same thing happening, I believe we must push to have independent media to ensure we hear arguments from multiple viewpoints. Listening, questioning and creating policy which is best for all citizens is critical.

As abhorrent as a Trump government sounds, it represents the voices of many. If we don't listen to those voices and stay in a righteous social media bubble, reality will bite.

-Anna Campbell is managing director of AbacusBio Ltd, a Dunedin based agri-technology company.