I enjoyed reading this, describing ideology as a lens is potent. I feel that when it comes to political or cultural discourse, there is inadvertently a black-and-white situation created for many people and those after power know all too well how to employ this to their advantage. It’s difficult to evoke certain skillsets or tendencies in people like the ability to self-reflect and the willingness to entertain different perspectives. Those who have it are safeguarded against extremes, otherwise it’s the same shitshow everywhere.
Yes, there’s definitely a vicious cycle at play in our politics with negative polarization. Making the other side out to be evil/dangerous is an effective way to get out the vote for the next election (which will always and forever be “the most important election of our lifetime”), but it has disastrous long-term consequences to social trust.
I enjoyed reading this, describing ideology as a lens is potent. I feel that when it comes to political or cultural discourse, there is inadvertently a black-and-white situation created for many people and those after power know all too well how to employ this to their advantage. It’s difficult to evoke certain skillsets or tendencies in people like the ability to self-reflect and the willingness to entertain different perspectives. Those who have it are safeguarded against extremes, otherwise it’s the same shitshow everywhere.
Yes, there’s definitely a vicious cycle at play in our politics with negative polarization. Making the other side out to be evil/dangerous is an effective way to get out the vote for the next election (which will always and forever be “the most important election of our lifetime”), but it has disastrous long-term consequences to social trust.