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New political polarization casts rivals as alien, unlikable, contemptible
21–30 of 171 posts
Re: New political polarization casts rivals as alien, unlikable, contemptible
#22According to the article, this phenomenon is most obviously manifested in the humorous expression “own the libs”, and not, say, by shrieking scaremongering about fascism and comparing the other side to the Nazis.
One side has literal Nazis marching for it, yelling “Jews will not replace us,” though...
I think most people on both “sides” find that unacceptable.
Re: New political polarization casts rivals as alien, unlikable, contemptible
#23The article goes into specifics, but the general premise is as old as humanity. The subtitle: "The new political polarization casts rivals as alien, unlikable and morally contemptible"
This is tribalism at its core. It's baked into us for evolutionary reasons that helped us survive, but is now a detriment.
Re: New political polarization casts rivals as alien, unlikable, contemptible
#24Ironically, a lot of the world has seen the USA do this to everyone else for a while too. Too a lesser degree to their anglophone friends of course but the rest of the world is alien and unlikable all the same (with just as little arguments as you see in the political divide). I suppose one could argue that the isolationism/tribalism has simply expanded inwards as 'the rest of the world' has already been put in the '…
I doubt the phenomenon has anything to do with the US in the ROW. Here in NL, a NATO member, it has been primarily the 'left' which has been painting groups with different opinions as 'nazis' 'fascists' etc. Vegans describing other people as murderers. I blame this culture for our last political murder [0] which already happened in 2002. This phenomenon is not new, I think it has to do with the dissolution of the USS…
The left (at least, the internet left) do this here in the UK too. Twitter seems to think all Tory voters are rich white men who want the poor to suffer.
Now I don't know if I'm in a bubble, because when I leave the internet and talk to actual lefties in person we always find a common ground. Hell, I have a friend group containing both anarcho communists and globalist one-world government types.
Re: New political polarization casts rivals as alien, unlikable, contemptible
#25Talk to people from the other party. But not about politics.
Make politics boring again.
Politics and government are definitely in the class of things we want to be boring. Interesting government and interesting politics were a major cause of death in the first half of the 20th century.
Re: New political polarization casts rivals as alien, unlikable, contemptible
#26Delete your twitter/facebook/reddit account. Seriously! Go do it now! These sites are built with the goal of pushing people into groups that are always angry at each other. Angry polarized groups spend more time on the site and are easier to sell things to. The only thing ignoring this trash will do is make you a happier, more functional person.
On some level yes. But the unfortunate side is that it's seeping into the overall culture and previously-benign and relatively apolitical institutions. That makes it dangerous to "ignore" and hope it goes away due to us all deciding to be reasonable and ignore the hateful and prominent voices that use social-media as a megaphone. Some institutions being actively soaked in identity politics and other divisive elements…
I do agree with you and I want the constant crawl of IdPol stop, but I can't help but feel this is part of the polarization aspect.
The internet is causing the growth of IdPol as well as the growth of the movement against it.
Re: New political polarization casts rivals as alien, unlikable, contemptible
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
I doubt the phenomenon has anything to do with the US in the ROW. Here in NL, a NATO member, it has been primarily the 'left' which has been painting groups with different opinions as 'nazis' 'fascists' etc. Vegans describing other people as murderers. I blame this culture for our last political murder [0] which already happened in 2002. This phenomenon is not new, I think it has to do with the dissolution of the USS…
The left (at least, the internet left) do this here in the UK too. Twitter seems to think all Tory voters are rich white men who want the poor to suffer. Now I don't know if I'm in a bubble, because when I leave the internet and talk to actual lefties in person we always find a common ground. Hell, I have a friend group containing both anarcho communists and globalist one-world government types.
Have you seen the article posted here this week which claimed the main narrative on Twitter was only originating from about 6 people?
For a long time now, the social media have been embraced by 'progressives'. I see them destroying themselves.
Trump's 'surprise' election in 2016 fits in this : people don't voice their moderate opinion anymore, they vote however they want though.
Re: New political polarization casts rivals as alien, unlikable, contemptible
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
I doubt the phenomenon has anything to do with the US in the ROW. Here in NL, a NATO member, it has been primarily the 'left' which has been painting groups with different opinions as 'nazis' 'fascists' etc. Vegans describing other people as murderers. I blame this culture for our last political murder [0] which already happened in 2002. This phenomenon is not new, I think it has to do with the dissolution of the USS…
The left (at least, the internet left) do this here in the UK too. Twitter seems to think all Tory voters are rich white men who want the poor to suffer. Now I don't know if I'm in a bubble, because when I leave the internet and talk to actual lefties in person we always find a common ground. Hell, I have a friend group containing both anarcho communists and globalist one-world government types.
> all Tory voters are rich white men who want the poor to suffer.
The recent vote on school meals certainly didn't help that image
Re: New political polarization casts rivals as alien, unlikable, contemptible
#29Ironically, a lot of the world has seen the USA do this to everyone else for a while too. Too a lesser degree to their anglophone friends of course but the rest of the world is alien and unlikable all the same (with just as little arguments as you see in the political divide). I suppose one could argue that the isolationism/tribalism has simply expanded inwards as 'the rest of the world' has already been put in the '…
I doubt the phenomenon has anything to do with the US in the ROW. Here in NL, a NATO member, it has been primarily the 'left' which has been painting groups with different opinions as 'nazis' 'fascists' etc. Vegans describing other people as murderers. I blame this culture for our last political murder [0] which already happened in 2002. This phenomenon is not new, I think it has to do with the dissolution of the USS…
That is true but a one sided take, at least over here in the USA. Here the right and the left seem to escalate in tandem. The extreme far right now calls anyone they disagree with a literal Satanic baby eating pedophiles.
This also identities the left entirely with Marxism-Leninism which is like identifying the right entirely with fascism.
Re: New political polarization casts rivals as alien, unlikable, contemptible
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
On some level yes. But the unfortunate side is that it's seeping into the overall culture and previously-benign and relatively apolitical institutions. That makes it dangerous to "ignore" and hope it goes away due to us all deciding to be reasonable and ignore the hateful and prominent voices that use social-media as a megaphone. Some institutions being actively soaked in identity politics and other divisive elements…
I do agree with you and I want the constant crawl of IdPol stop, but I can't help but feel this is part of the polarization aspect. The internet is causing the growth of IdPol as well as the growth of the movement against it.
IMO: it's not "the internet." At least, not to the same degree. It's the huge platforms with their own ad networks that are driving it.