Become do divided?
Are we all that dense? It's like a magic trick, look over here while I fuck you up the arse. Everybody is the same, well mostly. But no-one wants to admit it.
Why can't we all just have a bong?
social media became an echo chamber of left wing thought, if you only have access to one way of thinking, day after day, without another opinion, then thats how you get radicalized. do you remember people burning cars before 2005? getting this angry? whats the common denominator? social networks, 5 years of "trump is hitler" without any other voices, opinions, then he won? turned people crazy.
Not sure about radicalised for the majority - lobotomised seems more appropriate.
Here's my personal take, if you're interested:
Closest I can figure it, it started around the beginning of 2013. President Obama had secured his second term, didn't need to worry about reelection anymore, and enough time had passed since the 2012 election for the dust to settle. This was the point where the political Left decided to openly move DRAMATICALLY further to the left. Like, openly embracing policies and viewpoints that only a couple years earlier, the same Democrats would have pretended to disavow because they were still pretending to be moderate and reasonable.
This dramatic shift on the Left created shock, and then a massive wave of push-back from the political Right, and even from lots of disillusioned moderate Democrats, like I was at the time. Ultimately, the disillusionment and push-back got so big that it led to the election of Donald Trump.
Donald Trump was elected PARTLY because he aggressively addressed issues that all other politicians had pretty much stopped talking about over a DECADE earlier. Like border security. Even George W. was a complete pushover when it came to illegal immigration. Before Trump, the last "politician" who took illegal immigration seriously was Pat Buchanan, for fuck sake. But that lost issue was and is a HUGE real-life problem for millions of Americans in their day to day lives, and they loved that Trump not only started talking about it again, but also took a hard stance on it.
So that was PART of why Trump was elected. But mainly, Trump was elected as a huge 'fuck you' to the entire political establishment. A 'fuck you' to the Left, who had moved so ridiculously far to the left, and also a 'fuck you' to the Right, who had become complete pussies and stopped fighting for... ANYTHING, really. Trump is basically the first third-party candidate elected President in modern history. He wasn't really a Republican, and he obviously wasn't a Democrat either, even though he had voted Democrat his whole life.
Well said, Nitro!
😎
it started around the beginning of 2013.
It started with Joseph and his FABULOUS coat when he told the Pharaoh he couldn't eat all his apples today and he might want to save some for a rainy day.
sharei agree with andyking that this is political and should be on that board.
i think robert putnam's bowling alone & our kids and charles murray's coming apart are chock full of interesting insights in this matter.
i think it's a long brewing, slow boiling thing that has to do with lots of things - changing economies that have hugely rewarded high iq, high achieving people (not a bad thing, even if it's split us along cognitive lines), changing social structures, decline of religion, decline of various institutions that used to unite people at the community level, the rise of government as a deciding factor in how some people live their lives...all sorts of things.
i recall a few years back jon haidt saying that he thought hillary clinton's 'deplorables' comment was one of the most significant moments of recent american politics. at the time i thought it was overblown, but now i think it might be one of the most clarifying things a politician has ever said, because it really encapsulates perfectly how a large part of the country does look at another large part. & not just in the way people have contempt for trumpists or whatever. it really is a cognitive and class contempt, i think.
i don't think it's like such attitudes never existed, or that there was some nirvana-like period where americans were united. but they were more united in the past, and they're much less united now, & i think putnam and murray's books both have a lot of insight into how that's happened over the last 60 or so years, & i recommend them to anyone who is interested in such matters.
hillary clinton's 'deplorables' comment was one of the most significant moments of recent american politics. at the time i thought it was overblown, but now i think it might be one of the most clarifying things a politician has ever said, because it really encapsulates perfectly how a large part of the country does look at another large part.
I'll toss in my two cents.
I agree with jonathan_k80. Social media is a big contributor. There have been multiple studies on extremism, and putting like minded people together no matter what the topic, it lead to more extreme thinking. So when you have access to millions of people who think similarly and you can ignore other opinions it leads to division.
I think that this is a worldwide problem, so I'm not as convinced that it's simply American politics, and leaders who are to blame. I find it amusing that American left wing politics are still to the right of many countries.
I think that contributors are the decline of the middle class worldwide, income and education inequality, and like social media the rise of 24/7 "news" networks. I can't think of one that doesn't have an agenda or an ideology behind it with almost all of the content being opinion based. This is presented as news, when it's not actual news. This is opinions of current events and a lot of the population doesn't know the difference. We honestly live in a world where the truth doesn't matter at all.
During the AMERICAN CIVIL WAR they didn't have SOCIAL MEDIA, but the country still found a way to be DIVIDED.
During the AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR they also didn't have SOCIAL MEDIA, but still found a way to feel ALIENATED from their RULER at that time.
MAJOR DIVISIONS between members of SOCIETY don't need the INTERNET in order to take place.
😉
Nope, but we aren't talking about the American civil war, we are speaking of current divisions.
shareThe CURRENT DIVISIONS are an EXTENTION of the SAME DIVISIONS that previously DIVIDED US during the CIVIL WAR.
The problem is how those DIVISIONS have NEVER been RESOLVED.
Because CULTURALLY we're STILL FIGHTING the SAME WAR now that took place back then.
DISTRICTS that have been RED LINED are proof of this.
Redlining
>>In the United States, redlining is the systematic denial of various services to residents of specific, often racially associated, neighborhoods or communities, either explicitly or through the selective raising of prices. While the best known examples of redlining have involved denial of financial services such as banking or insurance, other services such as health care or even supermarkets have been denied to residents. In the case of retail businesses like supermarkets, purposely locating stores impractically far away from targeted residents results in a redlining effect.
Wikipedia iconWikipedia
Learn more: The Black experience in the US
Data from: Wikipedia
VOTER RESTRICTION LAWS (HUNDREDS of them are being PASSED now in all 50 STATES) are further PROOF of this.
THE CURRENT PROBLEMS can definitely be TRACED back to what took place during the CIVIL WAR.
I think I implied that I was speaking of division on a global scale and not just in the USA. I'm not American, so the issues I see in my country are not because of the American Civil War.
shareWhat country are you from??? Because other WESTERNIZED countries also face the same kind of ISSUES as AMERICAN's (declining birth rates among the MAJORITY race).
And the person who began this topic also said this:
When did we all
posted 18 hours ago by davodikum (4667)
Become do divided?
And since you're not the person who started it, essentially your opinion is being offered to the person who started it (the same way as my opinion is also being offered to them).
But you're also behaving as if you're the one who began the topic, when you say that YOU IMPLIED YOU were speaking on a GLOBAL SCALE.
But since there's NO MENTION of SCALE at all in the OP, imo, it's also perfectly acceptable to talk about DIVISION on a SMALLER SCALE (rather than on a GLOBAL Scale).
Which also makes sense -- due to the way in MOST cases MOST of us would better comprehend what's going on in our OWN BACK YARDS (so to speak) more than we'd know what's happening in the back yard of someone else.
In other words, it's also FINE for BOTH of us to discuss either the LARGER or the SMALLER issues.
You replied to my comment where I said I think that this is a worldwide problem, so I'm not as convinced that it's simply American politics
You then brought up the American civil war.
I'm not denying that some of American problems are based in issues that date back to the American civil war, I was speaking on division and replying to the OP with what I thought the issues were. If you wanted to have a discussion with the OP, you could have replied to their comment and not mine. Since you did reply to mine and not the OP when you say things like (the same way as my opinion is also being offered to them). I am confused because your opinion is being offered to me. The OP won't get a notification.
Sorry for the CONFUSION. You're right, what happened was I replied back to that other poster who you may also have replied back to??? With this format it's often hard to tell who's taking to who. And when you said that was your 2 cents worth, I also wanted to put in my 2 cents as well (which was to point out how DIVISIONS existed before the INTERNET).
But JONATHAN has also posted another EXCELLENT message where he points out why things are different now with the use of the INTERNET.
Anyhow, since other countries were also involved in the CIVIL WAR (just like they were during the REVOLUTIONARY WAR):
What countries were involved in the US Civil War?
✓ There were many countries involved directly and indirectly with the American Civil War. Other countries to include England provided weapons to the North …
See more
What countries were involved in the US Civil War? - Answers
https://www.answers.com/Q/What_countries_were...
Technically speaking, the AMERICAN CIVIL WAR was also a GLOBAL ISSUE as well.
The difference is this: in today's society those divisions form at a more rapid pace. Before social media, there could be isolated hate groups who had little or no contact with one another. Now it's possible to disseminate a message around the globe in a matter of seconds, and these hate groups can quickly form alliances. It makes them appear larger and more influential than they actually are. And that's exactly what they want.
sharehate groups can quickly form alliances. It makes them appear larger and more influential than they actually are. And that's exactly what they want.
I wish I had an answer but the whole situation has become too complicated.
Personally, I wouldn't care if they got rid of Facebook, Twitter and their ilk. These are time-wasters and invaders of privacy. I refuse to have anything to do with any of these intrusive organizations. The problem is, they have become too well-established and too many people are addicted to these sites, so abolishing them is no longer an option.
Technology is a good thing when it is used for the betterment of humankind, but too much of it can become detrimental. I believe we reached this point about ten years ago when personal interaction began declining. There's too much emphasis and reliance on smartphones. I call these devices "stupidphones" instead, because users (who have become addicts) are voluntarily dumbing themselves down by becoming over-dependent on these gadgets. Some can't perform simple tasks without consulting some silly "phone app." Their entire lives revolve around a ridiculous electronic device.
We need to uncomplicate our lives and return to more simple face-to-face transactions. Everything has become too impersonal and it's affecting societal attitudes.
I feel the same way as you do about FB and TWITTER as well (which is also why I've never had an account with them).
I've heard rumblings about what may possibly happen to them. Since FB is behaving like a NEWS ORGANIZATION (and many people who use it get their NEWS from it), perhaps they can also pass LAWS that force it to obey the same RULES as any other NEWS organization???
And if that company successfully SUES that other PROPAGANDA CHANNEL for telling LIES about their company (the VOTING MACHINE company), then perhaps that could also put an END to what's been going on???
And now that people are DYING due to the other LIES about getting VACCINATED, they may also pass other laws to take care of that matter as well???
They've also suggested INCREASING the HEALTH INSURANCE RATES of those who choose not to be VACCINATED (due to the way they're also COSTING the rest of us so much money to treat them when they end up in the HOSPITAL).
So maybe those who use FB would also not have money to pay their INTERNET BILLS anymore once their HEALTH INS RATES increase???
I also agree about the use of STUPID PHONES and can't stand them either.
The main thing I like about them is being able to listen to the NEWS on them when not at home.
Still another thing that BUGS the HELL out of me is those DAMN ROBO CALLS where you've got to PUSH about 10 or more OPTIONS before you can speak to someone (which usually also leads to leaving someone a VOICE MESSAGE rather than getting to talk to a person). Or else you'll have to wait 40 min before someone answers if you've got a problem with your cable tv or internet service.
In other words, you're right about EVERYTHING's become too IMPERSONAL.
We use to be able to call the local cable office (which is about a mile from here), but now we have to call some 800 number (which results in someone half way around the world talking to you that you can barely understand due to their THICK ACCENT). They call such places CALL CENTERS. And those are also one of the MOST FRUSTRATING experiences that one has ever encountered before. Instead of things being CENTERED, they're WAY OFF CENTER and way to DECENTRALIZED now. 🙄
Are we all that dense?