I have been posting on Facebook for over a year now about my fear that the political polarization in the US is destroying our sense of community and is making it impossible to govern effectively. I fear we are headed for chaos, if not outright civil war, if we can’t talk to each other.
I get a few thumbs up, but mostly replies that seem to like the current state of affairs. Demonizing the other side and rejecting the idea that we can solve our problems through rational, civil discussion.
Remember that it’s only a matter of time before that slim majority swings the other way. Then what?
The Western world is facing catastrophic debt, national and international digital IDs, and seeing the results of unfettered immigration that was abetted by globalist-backed NGOs. Does anybody still believe all these problems are unrelated and not choreographed?
Division is being sown by globalists who know they can’t take over as long as there is a strong and united USA. Look at the list of World Economic Forum members to see their powerful influence on what we read, hear, and see. To foster division is to play right into their hands.
I’m not interested in posts that say talking problems out won’t work. I want to hear from people on both sides of the aisle who believe it can work and have ideas about how to make it work. Or that have other solutions that don’t perpetuate division. Is there not a silent majority who don’t make its voice heard? If so, why don’t you speak up? Is it the expected onslaught of negativity? Something else? Aren’t there millions of moderates on both sides who see that this polarization is killing our Country?
Or am I just pleading in the wilderness?
Kent Robertson
Easton
Easton
Darrell Parsons says
Thank you Kent. I join you in this call for talking with one another.
Deirdre LaMotte says
I appreciate your concern Kent. Perhaps when the current Administration evolves into implementing policies
that are democracy driven, this may happen. Good luck. The GOP continues to enabled an authoritarian regime, so no, the majority of Americans
will not get along until all people are treated with respect in this nation. I will not elaborate. Just watch real news.
And BTW, this is not a “both sides” issue. The Republican Party has gone over the cliff.
Kent Robertson says
It takes two to ta go Dierdre. Many of your posts display a disdain for at least half of the country. Just as you have been taught believe everything is the fault of conservatives, they have been taught to believe liberals (mostly “progressive” liberals are the whole problem. Until we can accept that there are many perspectives and versions of the “truth” that have at least some validity, and face the fact that some of what we believe is based on media bias and demagoguery, we will be unable to understand each other…much less find common ground. We need to listen intently more than we proclaim our own beliefs.
Jayne B says
Kent, you’re not alone. Civil discourse and tolerance has, it seems, gone the way of good manners. The gentle art of respectful listening and thoughtful conversation seem to some people to be unworthy efforts.
It seems far easier to click a thumbs up or down or spout half-baked or emotion-infused opinions. It seems in the digital Wild West nearly everyone (informed or not) apparently has an opinion (fact based or not) on most everything.
Worse, we now have unqualified, self-appointed click-bait “influencers” who actually affect commenters’ willingness to espouse a position.
Many of those who ascribe to a life of digital communication via commenting feel a compulsion to scream their positions in the starkest of terms online. Subtlety is not their domain.
No, they do not want to debate civilly as a means of studying an issues; they just want to be the loudest voice in s thread, failing to understand that the more they yell & scream, the less anyone cares to listen.
This branding… this binary “thumbs up/thumbs down” paradigm is a dark side of social media.
Social media thumb direction has divided us into binary camps on countless issues. And, most issues worthy of debate just aren’t easily decided by a thumb direction.
Yet, if people willingly are agree to live a life that separates us by only a “thumbs up/thumbs down” mentality and/or if people are unwilling to actually converse with each other, then they are voluntarily drinking the digital KoolAid. By only digitally commenting instead of engaging in face-to-face dialog, people freely abdicate their natural intelligence & ability to think, express themselves, listen to / consider others, become informed with fact, live in a real world.
Sadly, this kind of blind adherence to political or ideological digital branding or inability to converse seems to overcome one’s brain with narrow ignorance where common sense, logical thinking and the ability to communicate once used to reside.
Quasi-anonymous comments give permission to online readers the ability to hide, insulate & isolate themselves; and many are so convinced they are always right and anyone who disagrees with them is immediately wrong.
Judgements of others are swift, blunt, immediate; and what follows even the briefest difference of opinion often devolves into people saying hurtful things, demeaning things, senseless things, often unfounded / exaggerated things to one another.
But… there are those who are simply weary of the vitriol and swamp speech, who just choose to not engage. The “Silent Majority” still lives.
Most Americans are the broad numbers who occupy the space in the middle/center of a Bell Curve, not shrieking at its tails. The majority of Americans are not extremists, they are not loud, they are the ones who relish friendships more than ugly arguments. They will not be coerced into binary choosing. They may not feel the need to react to every post or perhaps to any post. They may be concerned for their safety, they may not wish to allow their beliefs to be digitally pummeled.
They may be left-leaning on some issues, right-leaning on others or somewhere in the middle on still others; or they may not feel an issue’s relevance to them personally or feel their opinions are of concern to others nor wish to debate.
Not everyone is inclined to go public with their choices… but that doesn’t mean they don’t consider multiple sides of issues. They just analyze ideas in the privacy of their own thoughts, not because they fear criticism or are afraid to discuss things… they just choose not to do it online.
Many people just think for themselves quietly, refuse to be pigeonholed or branded by anyone or some algorithm, are not compelled to debate nor impose their beliefs on others. To be heard, they make the loudest silent statement of all: they make statement that’s a culmination of all their reflection and watchful study and which represents them in totality… they vote.
Mary Jane Wyant says
I agree that we need to talk to each other, to listen to each other. I hope there will be a venue in which we can gather people of differing opinions and civilly express our differences and find our commonality.
Michael Pullen says
“Division is being sown by globalists who know they can’t take over as long as there is a strong and united USA.”
What we say is an expression of who we are and what we believe. Others, like myself, might say that division is being sown by this Administration in an overt effort to create chaos and creating the pretext to present itself as the “solution”.
Remember, “Only I can fix it” “I am your retribution” and”they hate our country”, or, “if you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country.”?
Your statement about “globalists” reflects your own beliefs.
Communication is necessary to understand others. Unity does not require agreement but it does require acceptance that another’s point of view can be different and still be legitimate in a diverse nation and a healthy democracy.
Hitler preached unity and strength for Germany, pride and nationalism. We know how that worked out for Germany.
Reality includes all people, not just Americans. There are no “globalists”. That concept is a fiction, group-think. it “others” people with different views than yours. Instead of vilifying “others”, unity, and more importantly, democracy itself, require communication, mutual respect for others and a willingness to recognize that sometimes our own views are the ones that need to be examined and changed.
“Othering” people into groups and turning against those groups is the opposite of unity.
If unity is your aim, look inside yourself and see what it is you reject about “others”. It will reveal much more than you imagine about yourself.
Kent Robertson says
Thanks for your reply, Michael.
I am aware that I have biases, and why. I am always willing to consider that I might be wrong, or that some of what I believe is based on partial truths or even outright lies.
I don’t know for certain that globalists are the hub of what is happening, but that theory has a lot to support it. I can’t find any other explanation that explains better what is happening across the world. To deny that there are globalists who believe they are best equipped to run the world is to deny what they say their own goals are. I encourage you to read about the World Economic Forum and what their agenda is.
When I use the word “others”, I am talking about anyone who doesn’t agree with what “we” believe. “We” means any group that have common beliefs, “Others” means those that have different beliefs. I’m not “ithering” anyone. I’m describing the state of affairs that fosters the polarization that is so destructive.
There are very few people in this world that I reject as fellow human beings worthy of respect and understanding.
Wendy Roth says
Mr. Robertson:
Of course the current divisions and distrust are unfortunate. I’ve always enjoyed sharing political ideas with others (B.A. political science; M.A., international relations) in the past. Now, however, I find it almost impossible to communicate with people who are misinformed at best, or whose views are so drastically alien.
I’m confused by your reference to “global NGOs” as a sinister force. Maybe the attached list of the 15 largest NGOs will be useful. It includes Save the Children, Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, Catholic Relief Services, and the International Rescue Committee, along with descriptions of the services they provide to save people from starvation, illness, war, and so on. Hope it will be helpful to you and other readers.
https://www.humanrightscareers.com/issues/biggest-ngos-in-the-world/
Kent Robertson says
Thank you Wendy. I understand that NGOs do amazingly wonderful things in the US and around the world. I was trying to point out that the encouragement of illegal immigration and ignoring our immigration laws is what got us to where we are today. My belief that unfettered immigration is part of a globalist agenda comes from reading WEF’s own materials. The members of WEF are major donors to NGOs that did everything they could to further that agenda.