An Inside Threat

by Bronislaw Andrus, Editor

Opinion/Editorial, Culture

It's hard to get into a conversation these days without eventually hearing a sly jab at Sleepy Joe or the Tangerine Twitter Machine, depending on one’s political persuasion. A seemingly innocuous discussion about weather trends will inevitably become a debate about how the Republicans are ruthlessly scheming ways to bring about the total destruction of the environment, or how the Democrats are flushing the economy down the toilet with their demands for burdensome taxation of virtuous fossil fuel companies. But jokes aside (if what seems so eerily close to the truth can be considered a joke), polarization is painfully real. It creeps into our online comments and news feeds. It slips into our favorite movies and TV shows. And it oozes out of the mouths of politicians, even those whose policies we support.

America has not always been this divided. Our history reveals that we often find social union in the process of rebuilding after a great tragedy, or working together to fight a common foe. The September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers united Americans against terrorism. World War I and World War II pulled Americans closer to each other in factories at home and battlefields abroad in an effort to support our European allies. The Revolution — the spark that ignited the United States of America — gave Americans a shared identity and a strong belief that liberty, equality, and democracy could radically improve society, even if actualizing those ideals would take many years of success and failure.

Still, polarization poked its ugly head into American history even in the midst of these periods of strong union and fraternity. The Vietnam War led to widespread public distrust of politicians who idealized military conflicts, and ultimately produced a distaste for what many Americans saw as a self-interested bureaucracy. Those who supported the war condemned protestors as anti-American, and those who opposed the war saw its supporters as brainwashed by pro-war government propaganda. Although Americans came together during World War I and World War II, disagreements about becoming involved in foreign wars in the first place caused a significant amount of division in the country. Worst of all, the Civil War pitted brother against brother for four long years of violence and bloodshed.

Recent years have more closely followed the patterns of polarization in our history than the periods of unity. Numerous studies from Pew Research and other polling organizations have shown that voters are more likely to identify themselves as consistently liberal or consistently conservative than politically varied, and Republicans and Democrats are moving further to the right and left respectively. The rise of social media has only worsened this divide. Algorithms on popular platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are designed to show users content that will encourage them to spend more time on the platform, and as a result, posts from one political viewpoint tend to dominate users’ feeds rather than a variety of opinions on current issues. After all, it tends to be easier and more enjoyable to listen to voices we already agree with. During the pandemic, when most Americans had to spend long hours inside, the echo chambers created by social media giants — corporations bent on maximizing ad revenue — were sometimes the only way for people to connect to the outside world. It’s no surprise that we’ve come out of Covid more divided than ever.

In the earliest days of our Republic, the Founding Fathers were acutely aware of the dangers factions posed to democracy and civil liberties. In his Farewell Address, President George Washington wrote at length about how the “spirit of party,” though it is “inseparable from our nature,” must be restrained lest it grow powerful enough to destroy democratic society entirely. Washington’s insights ring as true today as they did in his era — if not more so. He warned that the strong passion associated with parties “agitates the community with ill founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, [and] foments occasionally riot and insurrection.” During the Covid-19 pandemic, we witnessed countless acts of chaos and political violence — violence between fellow Americans, neighbors, even family members — all of which came to a climax in the devastating January 6 attack on the Capitol. Pervasive hatred and animosity in our country must not be taken lightly if we are to find our way out of this nightmarishly dark valley of division. And we cannot escape it by just the efforts of a motivated few — we must all play our part, hand-in-hand, to restore our Union to the hope in freedom, justice, equality, and peace that defined its formation.

The first step towards unity is understanding. Social media, politicians, and political commentators have taught us to ignore those we disagree with, but the truth is that simply taking the time to hear another person’s beliefs gives us more empathy for them, allowing us to see that person as a valuable human being rather than a shallow caricature. The more we engage with people who are different from us, the more we shed a light on their full, vibrant personalities and the less we consider them our enemies. We certainly don’t have to agree with everyone. But the effort to understand the people around us gives them the dignity and respect they deserve as people, however much we dislike their views. It’s easy to laugh at a hurtful stereotype of the opposing side, or validate unfounded assumptions about a person whose political beliefs don’t match our own to feel more connected to our like-minded friends. Instead, we must be watchful of our words and actions, knowing that bonds formed from a desire to ostracize others are never as strong as bonds formed out of a deep love that recognizes our shared humanity.

Resisting polarization requires the attention of every one of us. In the prescient words of George Washington, “A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest instead of warming it should consume.” A culture of anger and name-calling cannot change until the hearts of its people do. 

DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the various authors in this paper do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of Kamiak High School or The Gauntlet. 

Sources

Geiger, Abigail. “Political Polarization in the American Public.” Pew Research Center - U.S. 

Politics & Policy, Pew Research Center, 9 Apr. 2021, https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/06/12/political-polarization-in-the-american-public/.

Mounk, Yascha. “The Doom Spiral of Pernicious Polarization.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media 

Company, 5 Dec. 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/us-democrat-republican-partisan-polarization/629925/.

Washington, George. Farewell Address (George Washington). 

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CDOC-106sdoc21/pdf/GPO-CDOC-106sdoc21.pdf.