General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat's so bad, terrible, and horrible about this "division" we keep hearing about?
Politicians and pundits tell us it's a bad thing, that it's bad that we are polarized supposedly more than ever.
And here's Glenn Beck talking about how we need a "reconciliation"
Now obviously, division to the point of civil war or us building up medieval fortresses or setting no man's land between them is all truly horrible. But this isn't that, and I don't think it will ever get to that point, not at least with the US in it's current state.
To me, it seems as though that the "division" being in this country is a designated villain, it is bad simply because we are told that it is bad.
You didn't see any of these "this division is bad" people when we had pundits divide us up into liberal vs conservative. I think we saw at what might have been it's highest point (so far) when Doug Jones inched out a victory over Roy Moore. You know, a qualified Democrat barely inching out a victory over a man twice removed from the bench, a man with visions of some sort of fascist theocracy, a sex offender, and straight out of a dystopian novel.
This whole anti-division thing also contributes to the issue of our government and media gaslighting us. Going off on the Roy Moore example, sure I'm on the left and I may not be 100% objective on political issues, but it's not division talking when one says Roy Moore was removed from the bench twice or that Doug Jones was far more qualified than Moore. Those are objective truths, those are real, brute facts.
And in that vein there seems to be so great of a fear of division that we would choose not being divided over not normalizing the worst of us. I'm not uniting with white supremacists, I'm not uniting with the trolls who offered Alison Chandra a .22 bullet, I'm not uniting with transphobes who say the transgender people I count among my loved ones are "not real" or with the Islamophobes who say the Muslims I love are enemies, and I'm not uniting with people who think the highest point of our country's history, heck some may even think all human history, was when black people were property. Not going to happen. Not going to apologize for it.
And it seems to be an awfully convenient thing to be against "division" when Republicans control the White House, the Senate, and the House. Will unity and just trusting our government still be great things when the House and/or Senate go into the hands of the Democrats?
One last thing on an economics note, you don't see a lot of millionaires and billionaires going around saying the financial situation in this country is way too polarized... "We better create some harmony and redistribute our wealth", I want so see that. Why do you suppose that's not something we're experiencing though?
So, don't be afraid of division in and of itself. Use it. Play with it. Choose it over being gaslighted. Choose it over normalizing the worst of our society. And remember, it's division that tells us that both parties are not the same.
Basic LA
(1,711 posts)You hear over & over about how the country & government is so terribly Polarized. Damn right it is, & for good reasons, as you so rightly explain.
I remember when the "Generation Gap" was bemoaned in a similar fashion.
rock
(13,218 posts)Imagine back in Hitler's time. I'm sure he had opposition. I.e. huge division. I'm also sure that was the thing to do. Division is good (especially if one side is a bunch of turds)!
Kirk Lover
(3,608 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)and can all voice our opinions; nobody can stop us.