Polarisation (by Cosmic Egg)

 

This article https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/they-hate-each-other-s-political-views-so-why-have-they-become-friends/ar-BB19yX3S?ocid=msedgntp (also reproduced below in a separate post) made me think about polarisation – how it is increasingly difficult to find people open enough and willing to entertain a different viewpoint to the one they identify with. To listen to another without labelling them as: Racist, Fascist, Homophobic, Islamophobic, etc. etc. when their viewpoint differs from or, heaven forbid, offends, ours.

There’s much talk about building an inclusive world; a world where everyone’s views, beliefs and rights are respected. Yet I see little evidence of the tolerance we long for. Instead of openness to what is unfamiliar, unknown or different to our present value system we hide in bubbles of social contacts, with so-called like-minded people, which do more to isolate ourselves from those deemed undesirable than to bridge the apparent gap.

Social media (my personal experience is with Facebook only) is brilliant at allowing people to hide in various social bubbles, constantly reinforcing our existing views, and feeling free to attack those of a different mind-set in ways not many people would dare to express were they to meet their ‘opponent’ face to face (the bullying I have witnessed and experienced on Facebook is first-rate).

In an online world where it’s easy to construct an online profile filled with, at times, grandiose sounding labels that tell the world who we are and what we stand for it’s all too easy to fall into the trap of polarisation. Since the 2016 referendum much of the UK has been politically divided along the lines of ‘Leavers’ (or Brexiteers) and ‘Remainers’. Other divisions are along gender lines (cis versus trans), vegan vs. carnivore, climate change ‘activists’ vs. climate change ‘deniers’ and, the latest, Blacks vs. Whites, courtesy of BLM supporters. I’m sure there are more divisions which I am either unaware of or currently can’t bring to mind.

I’d like to add that it’s entirely ‘normal’, i.e. understandable that people like to socialise and live with and near people they can identify with – nobody likes to feel the odd one out. I am no different. Yet I can’t help but notice an increasing polarisation in society, supported by an atmosphere of PC-ness and virtue signalling, that seems to build walls rather than bridges. 'Wokeness' is meant to liberate those who would apply that label to themselves yet I see a mindless conformity to socially accepted, i.e. PC views and opinions.

Do we have any free-thinking people left? Will those willing to take a risk, to have their cherished views challenged, please stand up? What the world needs at this time are true individuals, willing to step out of their comfort zone rather than more people hiding behind a wall of self-identifying labels.