Never before in my lifetime have I seen this country so polarized , so divided. Democrat/Republican, Red State/Blue State, Conservative/Liberal , Christian/Muslim, blacks/whites, LGBT/anti-LGBT, Black Lives Matter/ white cops, Westboro Baptist / Everyone, and on and on...

 

I've often asked myself what in the hell happened to this country 150 years ago and could it ever happen again? 620,000 American lives were lost from 1861-1865 and it was other Americans who took those lives. In some cases, literally brother against brother. Did we really learn anything from that dark period in American history? It seems not.

 

What we observe daily between all of the factions I listed above are but symptoms of a much deeper problem- a stealthy, insidious, destructive virus called HATE !!!!

 

Hate infects , metastasizes like a cancer , and eventually destroys. America is being destroyed, much as the rest of the world is, not by economics, immigration, or politics, but by the nasty, insidious virus of hate. Folks, I am usually very optimistic and I believe strongly in the power of positive energy to overcome , but I fear for what this country may have to go through again in order to learn that hate simply cannot sustain us. We MUST move beyond it! I have no answers as to how to cure this virus. This country, as well as the planet, better figure it out... AND SOON!

 

I am a very philosophical individual and this is something I have pondered for a long time. It's just my opinion. Many of you often disagree with me and you may disagree with me here. And I may be wrong. I welcome your views. Thank you.

Edited July 8, 201610 yr by Science Friction

Hate breeds money. Greed is the gas to the fire of hate. All of this comes down to controlling money. Media gets viewers/readers, politicians keep positions b/c people fear change. It's awful.

Greed is the gas to the fire of hate.

 

Man... that is a good line. True right to its core.

The force multiplier here too is the anonymity granted by the internet which allows people to spew hate, ignorance, and unsubstantiated information without having to directly face the repercussions.

Man... that is a good line. True right to its core.

 

Only took 13.8K posts to come up with something worth repeating.

The force multiplier here too is the anonymity granted by the internet which allows people to spew hate, ignorance, and unsubstantiated information without having to directly face the repercussions.

 

Excellent, excellent point.

It's a simple fact of humanity that we're not all alike. There must be a middle ground. People fear what they don't understand and right now, there's very little understanding going on. Too few people are willing to work toward that middle ground.

 

Fear and insecurity has bred a dangerous attitude in this country. It's been simmering for a long time and it's starting to boil over.

 

Very disheartening.

The force multiplier here too is the anonymity granted by the internet which allows people to spew hate, ignorance, and unsubstantiated information without having to directly face the repercussions.

 

I don't even think it's the anonymity of the internet so much as it's the platform/megaphone social media provides. I think social media amplifies typical social behavior. Sometimes that's good, we get to keep in contact with our entire network of friends and family, expand our networks, share life events, even raise awareness or money for charity. The list goes on of positive things we already do, but can now do on a much grander scale.

 

But, sometimes it amplifies the very worst and most destructive parts of society. We are tribal. We are defensive. We can be inflamed and angry. Our passions override our reason under these circumstances. This has always been true, of course. Instead of shaking our heads at the newspaper, opining with people who know us well, or even having time to breathe and collect ourselves before engaging with society, we are now incentivized to do it right away, where everyone can see it, and double down when our passions are challenged.

 

The pathology of that is we are a society of experts now. We've confused the access and the platform for validity and we've disincentivized contemplation. If I post it then it must be right. If it sounds good to me it must be true. And anyone who thinks otherwise is an enemy.

There are very few on these boards that can't take credit for the overall tone these boards have taken and most, myself included, have added to the general negativity. If this board is a microcosm of overall society how can anyone be surprised or shocked? People are ABSOLUTELY certain they are right and that they are somehow better then those that believe differently then they do and when they are challenged they become combative and/or condescending. Why is anyone surprised?

It's as bad as I can remember since the late '60s.

There are very few on these boards that can't take credit for the overall tone these boards have taken and most, myself included, have added to the general negativity. If this board is a microcosm of overall society how can anyone be surprised or shocked? People are ABSOLUTELY certain they are right and that they are somehow better then those that believe differently then they do and when they are challenged they become combative and/or condescending. Why is anyone surprised?

 

Such a good post

It's as bad as I can remember since the late '60s.

 

I remember reading a couple years ago that the baby boomers were likely the first generation in American history to view political party affiliation as a value judgment about someone's character, rather than a difference of opinion. Their children (Gen X, Millenials, and even whatever those of us in the middle that grew up as the internet did are called) seem to make the same judgements.

 

It's not a pleasant quality we're exhibiting in that regard.

In short, this is the dumbest generation of humans in the history of the planet. When you look at, per capita, the amount of information and the ease of obtaining it compared to any time in our history, we are incredibly undereducated. Additionally, we have so many more avenues to express ourselves outside of our own communities that we can reach more in less time than ever before.

 

SO, we have dumber people speaking more. Meaning we have dumber people listening more. Throw into the mix, the lack of critical thinking that is prevalent across economic strata, and you have this. People can't see through the media. People can't assess critical issues. They allow their passions to become inflamed. We were supposed to have evolved past this. We were supposed to be able to look at each situation individually and to see if it fit into a societal pattern, and determine what was the cause of it. We haven't.

 

Our generation can dissect the hidden meanings of events on Game of Thrones and debate them ad nauseum. We dissect the true intentions of the Lannisters, or the Queen of Dragons, yet we can't see what the media is presenting to us. We merely repeat what we see and don't ask, "Why is this the way I am seeing it?" We don't seek the counter point to truly understand, to the best of our abilities. Nope, we rattle off what our news source shows, repeat it or fight it based off our limited critical thinking, and then dig ourselves into a trench.

 

Now that we are in a trench, we don't know how to get out, b/c our parents have taught us that our opinion can never be wrong if we hold true to who we are. We are move valuable than society says we are. Now that we are adults, this position has only been reinforced by social media. We are the stars of our own shows, and any contrary opinion is quickly shot down by like minded "friends."

 

The only way that we, as a society, rid ourselves of this virus is if we are willing to stop being infected and get off the teet of the media. IMO.

I remember reading a couple years ago that the baby boomers were likely the first generation in American history to view political party affiliation as a value judgment about someone's character, rather than a difference of opinion. Their children (Gen X, Millenials, and even whatever those of us in the middle that grew up as the internet did are called) seem to make the same judgements.

 

It's not a pleasant quality we're exhibiting in that regard.

 

I hadn't thought about it in that light, but I believe this is 100 percent correct.

In short, this is the dumbest generation of humans in the history of the planet. When you look at, per capita, the amount of information and the ease of obtaining it compared to any time in our history, we are incredibly undereducated. Additionally, we have so many more avenues to express ourselves outside of our own communities that we can reach more in less time than ever before.

 

SO, we have dumber people speaking more. Meaning we have dumber people listening more. Throw into the mix, the lack of critical thinking that is prevalent across economic strata, and you have this. People can't see through the media. People can't assess critical issues. They allow their passions to become inflamed. We were supposed to have evolved past this. We were supposed to be able to look at each situation individually and to see if it fit into a societal pattern, and determine what was the cause of it. We haven't.

 

Our generation can dissect the hidden meanings of events on Game of Thrones and debate them ad nauseum. We dissect the true intentions of the Lannisters, or the Queen of Dragons, yet we can't see what the media is presenting to us. We merely repeat what we see and don't ask, "Why is this the way I am seeing it?" We don't seek the counter point to truly understand, to the best of our abilities. Nope, we rattle off what our news source shows, repeat it or fight it based off our limited critical thinking, and then dig ourselves into a trench.

 

Now that we are in a trench, we don't know how to get out, b/c our parents have taught us that our opinion can never be wrong if we hold true to who we are. We are move valuable than society says we are. Now that we are adults, this position has only been reinforced by social media. We are the stars of our own shows, and any contrary opinion is quickly shot down by like minded "friends."

 

The only way that we, as a society, rid ourselves of this virus is if we are willing to stop being infected and get off the teet of the media. IMO.

 

Here's my take. Dumber people are hearing what they want to hear. They ain't really listening.