With the 2022 midterm elections fast approaching, we have an October challenge to all our fellow Americans: Think outside your tribe, at least a little, this month.
“We the People” don’t agree on much these days, except for the fact that America’s culture and politics are deeply, perhaps dangerously, divided. Each side sees the other as occupying a bizarro, inverted intellectual moral and political universe. Even scarier – each side sees the other as a threat to democracy.
How did we get this way? Many books and doctoral theses – and countless articles – have been devoted to the phenomenon of hyper-partisanship and polarization. Some of this scholarship is solid and thought-provoking, while some of it is merely designed to contribute to our mutual alienation. The short answer, at least as far as the media is concerned, is that a blend of 21st century technology and ancient human nature has created a segregated experience for consumers of news, tailored to a person’s individual liking – and to our collective detriment.
Although there’s no easy fix, let’s make the month of October the time of year when we all dine outside – and cheat on – our curated smorgasbord of cable, print, podcaster, and Twitteratti diet.
