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The Present Polarization
It is real, and it is justified
Talking heads on cable, radio, and podcasts love to go on and on about how polarization is tribal: Democrats don’t want to talk to Republicans simply because of us v them and vice versa; liberal doesn’t want to talk to conservative; gay can’t converse with straight; etcetera… All because our baked-in antipathies.
The pundits repeatedly trot out research after study that posit in-group allegiance and out-group hatred. They like nothing better than to wring their hands over the seemingly intractable, if not factory equipped, nature of human intolerance.
Oh, well… it is what it is, and what can we do about it? They say. That seems to be the terrain upon which the lot of them land, in the end.
Whether or no polarization may be tribal at some point is irrelevant, in the here and now. In this place and at this time polarization is not tribal: It is situational; And it is wholly and fully justified.
What polarization that we have is not Democratic vs Republican, Liberal vs Conservative or anything of the sort, it is the distinct will of the oft-frustrated, nevertheless process-oriented and law-abiding, majority in direct opposition to the cut-throat underhanded minority who cling to power by illegitimate means and who threaten violence when skullduggery fails.
