Why are US politics so polarised and what can be done about it?

Why have the 2 sides drifted so far apart?

My theories;

1. The Internet; you can now choose whom you converse with and stay within the social circles you crave in a sort of self replicating loop.

2. The proliferation of media, nowadays you can choose who you listen to and have far greater range of viewpoints.

3. We live in an age where individualism is praised and therefore there is not the societal consensus as before.

4. Our lives are so darn safe and comfortable these days it creates a generation obsessed with minutiae.

 

I would say one big reason is that colleges and universities have became indoctrination camps for the left. They are turning out bigoted and closed minded zombies who refuse to consider other points of view as valid.

 

So what kinds of "indoctrination" are they teaching in physics classes? How about mathematics related classes? How about chemistry classes? Graphic design classes? Computer science classes? Economics classes? Exercise and sports classes? Industrial technology classes? History classes? Nursing classes? Psychology classes? Criminal justice classes? Business administration classes?

Could you show the syllabus for any of the courses where you claim indoctrination is happening?

 

Most universities teach courses other than the ones you mention. Left leaning professors outnumber right leaning professors twelve to one. Some universities do not have a single right leaning professor.

 

Such as? For those courses can you share the syllabus so we can all see what is actually being taught?

 

One side wants “traditional America” ... small government, maximum individual freedom, and equality of opportunity.


The other side wants big government, income redistribution, less individual freedom, and equality of results.

There is no common ground.

 

Do you think it actually has to be in a syllabus before a professor can make left leaning comments or criticize students who express right leaning opinions?

 

Social media.

 

Wait...so you think a professor making a "left leaning comment" is indoctrination? That being said, I listed off quite a few majors where there would be no cause for "left leaning comments" so can you share which majors/classes where all of these "left leaning comments" are being made?

 

Good response

What liberal future liberal leaders learn in college is intolerance to conservative ideas

Hardly any leader in washington is from the WWII generation

And their children the baby boomers who are now in charge were the most spoiled little brats in US history

 

Here's a site documenting SJW/LW excess on college campuses, many of which amount to indoctrination that was hidden for decades. Note that all the noted instances on the front page of the site took place just this month, which isn't even over yet.

https://www.campusreform.org/

To the topic, the reason for polarization today is simple. The vast mainstream media arm of the gov-edu-union-contractor-grantee-trial lawyer-MSM Complex is in the death throes of a 50+ year hegemony in public information and discourse that the internet is drawing to a close. It is no longer possible for the Complex to proliferate propaganda unquestioned, and that terrifies MILLIONS of parasites who make their living, and in many cases enrich themselves outlandishly, on the backs of the productive, voluntary, non government-related private sector.

Now the private sector and individuals within it have tools at their disposal to fight back against Complex-enriching misinformation, disinformation and pure propaganda, and in reaction, the Complex has gone full on overboard deranged in its many lies, distortions, accusations, hoaxes, false narratives, "PSAs" and schemes.

 

I have friends who have children in college who have said that the professors would not allow comments or criticized students who supported right wing ideas..

But lets look at a classic example. Journalism schools with predominately left wing professors. Talk about a self perpetuating system. They are producing journalists who have been indoctrinated on left wing ideas. Most journalists are also left leaning.



"Your experience of having different professors with different political leanings is no longer the experience of university students. Professors are overwhelmingly and increasingly liberal. While some of the best professors set their ideology aside in teaching, many don’t. Conservative thinkers quickly learn that “critical thinking” is mostly a euphemism for liberal thinking. While conservatives can perform well, the implicit bias of their professors mean their thinking must reach a much higher quality to receive the same marks.

These students need these professors in order to succeed in school. Unfortunately many of these professors have the same ideology as some of the Quorans who have answered this question. These people believe a role of professors is to fix the misguided conservative thinking of these students. Conservative students don’t simply feel under attack, they often are attacked by a curriculum specifically designed for them."
https://www.quora.com/Why-are-some-...l-views-and-judged-what-they-said-accordingly

Just one example. You can find numerous such articles if you google them.

 

Oh please. You do realize college students aren't sheep who will just adopt what they see or hear at college right? So, you think all those years of being taught by their parents will just be ignored because of a comment by a professor? You do realize conservative kids also go to college right? So all these kids who grew up in conservative homes are just being turned into a liberal because of what a random professor says?

 

Oh right, you heard it from a friend.

So again, I listed a bunch of majors/classes where there would be no indoctrination, yet you haven't listed any where there is. What are all these majors/classes where these professors are stifling conservatives from expressing their ideas?

 

This is an interesting thread. The question was asked, Why have the 2 sides drifted so far apart? And with the exception of a couple of posters, the answers have taken the form of blaming the opposition for the divide. But I don't think that answers the 'why'.

We have polarizing characters on both sides of the aisle, as well as polarizing commentary for media outlets on both sides. And assumptions about the intentions of the party opposing our own views are running rampant. There doesn't seem to be any room for civil discourse. Combined, its a perfect storm.

 

I was going to give a jokey answer along the lines of “Well I blame the other side!” but people beat me to it with serious examples of the trope.

I think the whole idea of there being two political sides is just wrong. They don’t really exists, they’re just convenient labels for managing populations (especially populations of voters).

The first thing to recognise is that most people aren’t actually as divided as might be assumed. It is always a small number of people who make the vast majority of the noise in politics and the ones who express the most extreme or uncompromising opinions get most attention. On most political issues, the vast majority of people don’t know and don’t care unless it’s directly impacting their lives. Even people who might voice a particular opinion on a subject, especially in a heated environment, won’t necessarily be as definitive if they’re given (and give themselves) the real chance to sit down and consider all of the details and people who are lumped together in to simple binary groupings based on opinions over one issue or incident may find themselves diametrically opposed on others.

Some of the things you list, notably communications technology, haven’t really changed any of this, it just gives the noisy minority even greater scope to make noise. I don’t see individualism as a causal factor, if anything it’d be the opposite. I think the issue is that anyone who reaches an induvial opinion on anything isn’t then in a position to get their opinion out there, they can only seek out a group the promotes (or appears to promote) something close to what the individual does. I guess you could say we’re more obsessed by minutiae but I’m not sure whether we always were and it’s only that mass communications which shifts that to a wider scope. All the gossip about the private lives of celebrities in the media is really no different to the gossip people used to have about the people living on their street.

 

Actually they are sheep

Sheep raised by the clueless children of spoiled baby boomers

todays snowflakes are ships with no rudder and no anchor

They just drift on the waves of pop culture

 

You asked for examples. I gave you personal examples and examples with links. If you choose not to believe it, I can't help you.

 

You are attempting to reach the other side of the divide

Which is no longer possible

 

Some are. Some aren't. Just as there are some adult who are sheep and some who aren't. Sweeping generalizations is just lazy thinking.

 

No, I asked for examples of majors/classes. I didn't ask you what your friend told you or what some blogger wrote.

 

One reason for the polarization is right wing media describing the legal, appropriate, measured response of the DOJ/FBI to the possibility the prez was compromised by the Russians (one aspect of the evidence being Comey's firing followed by Don telling Russians in the Oval Office the pressure on him had been removed) as a coup. A meme Individual 1 has employed.

Trump keeps channeling Fox’s “coup” nonsense. This could end badly.

https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2...ng-fox-s-coup-nonsense-could-end-badly/222909

*The president’s propagandists at Fox have gone into overdrive in response, filling the network’s airwaves with overwrought declarations that Rosenstein and McCabe had been fomenting a coup d’etat.

This is simply wrong. A coup, by definition, is an extralegal seizure of power. That’s not what McCabe says was discussed. “Removing Trump from office by following the guidelines of the 25th Amendment would no more be a coup than removing him from office through impeachment or, really, than voting for another candidate in 2020,” The Washington Post’s Philip Bump pointed out. “It’s part of the system.”*
..........................................................................................................................................
I fully expect the Trumpers to reflexively react to a link to MM..........without..........of course............factually refuting anything they write.

 

Too many are

 

First and foremost, the lack of encouragement to use critical thinking skills starting with grammar school kids. Being told what to think, rather than how to think, then combined in later years with the parental provided basis of 'you can do no wrong', all along parents being restricted in discipling their kids (I am NOT talking about abuse) by over zealous strangers to the situation.

Add all that together, throw in a dash of teachers who feel they need to teach kids morals and ethics, remove personal responsibility, and you get people who think the world is at their feet, because they breathe.....

 

You asked for a source after posting a transparent, infantile deflection assuming all college courses are in STEM. As you well know, the problem the poster was describing takes place primarily in liberal arts, grievance studies and social (un)sciences, particularly sociology, anthropology, psychology. Now of course after being provided a source, you don't address it but continue the deflection and goal-post shifting.

And yes, that students rebel against whatever their upbringing is well-known, and that they are impressionable during the college years is also well known. It isn't just some "comment" by a professor that is ongoing, as the source I linked evidences. Here is another site that gives legal aid to students whose various rights have been infringed by SJW/LW campus political witch hunts:

https://www.thefire.org/

In a rational educational world there should be no need whatsoever for an organization like this to exist.