In Flight From the Madness

Once again, I am fleeing from Facebook.  The social network is a monster.  While it is an invaluable news resource for people in and of my life, it has a very dark side.  Facebook is a megaphone that amplifies our nastiest and darkest parts.

We live in a country now as divided as it has been since the time of the Vietnam War.  Only the crack, the fault line between the divisions is not split by age.  This chasm seems to be fueled by differences that are not the opposite sides of any single issue.  The split seems to come from completely different perspectives in world view.

Thinkers far beyond my intellectual capability would probably be able to state this better but I will give it a try.  On one side, you have people with a set of factors that are key.  Roughly to my eye these are tied to a certain morality focus.  Abortion is wrong.  Libertine behavior is wrong. Government is too intrusive. They seem to believe in the primacy of the individual, that is, I am a nation unto myself to make or break what happens to me in this life save for external agencies which must give me roads and police protection.  There is a nationalism component to this side too, America must be triumphant and supreme.

On the other side are people who believe that America the concept is not as great as deal as it is made out to be. These are people who seem to be focused on a much different concept that the role of government is larger in our individual lives and that such involvement must be paid for by taxes.  Things like universal health care and social services are much more important to this group.  Religion is far less important here but justice seems to matter very much to these people.

Instead of the conflict being right or wrong on a particular issue the two sides are like boards coming at each other at right angles but with one several feet above the other.  They aren’t on the same plain.  When you are talking about income inequality on one hand and the other side is focused on the immorality of abortion there is no place for common ground.  When debates play out on line the point counterpoint is more like a jenga tower with gaps between the levels of issues in play.

There are polarizing figures here.  Hillary Clinton, former President Obama, Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions are just a few of them. We are at the point where we are so partisan that each side views the figures on the other side as criminals.  No I will not be ambivalent on this point I think Donald Trump’s encouragement of chants of jail her during the campaign has in great part led to this toxic situation. 

Somehow, I wish it were different.  Somehow, I wish there were states-people being elected to the Senate and to the House of Representatives but I don’t see it happening soon. 

Me, I need refuge from the vile bile and vitriol.  I will thus return to this blog as my outlet for at least the next week.  Pretty pictures and odd bits of writing, it is what I need.