A critique of the 'Divided America' Trope
A critique of the 'Divided America' Trope
We seriously need to start pushing back on this Divided America Trope. It is absolute propaganda.
America is more divided than ever.
Wrong. there are a lot of antisocial criminal elements in a America. Though the problems do get more aggravated, there are far fewer violent crimes, political or otherwise per capita than ever before. It is also my sense that even among people who differ in their political views, most people would pick up someone who fell without considering who they were or what sort of politics they practiced.
The American Congress is frozen by Partisanship.
At least mostly true. But it doesn't really represent a new state of affairs, at least not in the last decade or so.
We're headed for a civil war
Maybe; there certainly seems to be an element that wants one, and a revolution in government on the side. But they have proven to be a relatively tiny, if startling, sliver of the population, the military, and the police. At least, when the chips came down.
I think that this is a media narrative that feeds on itself in two ways. The first being that it is an insidious 'both sides' framing of the state of affairs. The Democratic party is not just another flavor of political party; the GOP Republicans are not just another flavor of political party.
The fact is, the Republican party can be shown to be composed of two basic types of people: those being charged with felonies, and those trying to protect or defend them from those charges, often becoming tainted with their crimes.
The Democratic party is the other half of a previously functional government (I'm being generous here) that has been left holding the bag while the other first half turns to crime, conspiracy, and the craft of procedural sabotage.
This has all been predicated on the moral tenets of a religion that they neither understand nor practice, and that has opened the door to nationalist authoritarianism and outright fascism as they have been emboldened and supported by the most most crass and self serving of the evangelical 'personality' churches out there.
The second way it feeds on itself is that by framing the question in this way, the media makes it safe to be someone who endorses what is clearly a criminal cabal run amok. After all, if the axios site all but loads a balance for you (the two sides of this 'divide'), how can it be anything other than just two different teams, with two differing perspectives? You can feel free to substitute just about any 'news' outlet, for 'axios'; because not only is axios not the only one; I don't think I've ever seen a 'news' outlet framing it any other way.
While it is true everyone is innocent until proven guilty, there is a statistical ratio, given a level field of activity, that asserts that someone is very guilty, given the large number of charges, and a lot of others are accessories before and after the fact, accomplices, and every other variation as we ride the Bell curve.
Many will be quick to claim that the playing field isn't level; but you'll notice it's always the ones without a defense in the face of a mountain of charges.
Hell no they don't have, and shouldn't anticipate a level playing field, other than in a court of law.
Being found at the scene of a murder isn't a good look, whether you're fucking guilty or not.
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Overall I think the conversation needs to shift away from "Americans are divided" and instead be shifted towards "The rich are dividing the working class for their personal benefit". They're destroying the planet too. The rich need to be made responsible for what they are doing and suffer the consequences.
Yes, why can’t people see this? This goes right along with people being mad at the poor for needing resources from the public fund while also saying we can’t tax the rich and their businesses because they will take their money and go (or some crazy fucking idea that the rich deserve to be there because they “worked hard” to get there, or worse - the idea that we shouldn’t “punish” them for being rich by asking them to pay their fair share).
People do see it all the time. But they're dumb.
The vast majority of MAGAs out there think Trump is against the wealthy "elite" because he keeps saying he is while associating every political opponent to that elite.
They are acting as if the wealthy elite are the enemy. They're just dumb.
Trump is the current American figurehead of the grifting rich. He's literally asking his idiotic, fascist base to pay his legal bills for him - and they are. It's insane.
I completely agree that the Joe on the street, and jean as well, are the regular targets of manipulation. I'm not sure if we'd agree on how or by whom.