Are people really this polarized?

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Senior-Cantaloupe-69@reddit

Before yesterday, I would’ve said it’s mostly just the loudest on both sides. But, the response to this killing of someone for their beliefs and exercising their right to speak has me very scared for our future. It is just going to incite more violence and more polarization. Political violence is never okay. Silencing anyone’s voice is never okay. We decide things in the ballot box. And I mean that for both sides. I wasn’t especially fond of Charlie’s approach but this is wrong. I also feel banning flag burning is wrong even though I hate it.

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G00dSh0tJans0n@reddit

When a vile evil racist, bigot questions, not only peoples basic human rights but their right to exist, then I’m glad when that evil is white from the face of the Earth.

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Senior-Cantaloupe-69@reddit

You are the problem. Do you want to kill everyone that disagrees with you? Where is the line? Words and thoughts are not violence.

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G00dSh0tJans0n@reddit

Words that instigate and incite violence and discrimination are no different than violence. Bin Laden didn’t kill a single American with his own hands, did he? You know neighborhoods in England found out when nazi skinheads would parade through the streets? If you kick the shit out of them they stop parading through the streets.

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Far-Cod-8858@reddit

JFC, you people are the problem

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G00dSh0tJans0n@reddit

Nope- bigoted evil people who preach denying equal rights and even the right to exist are the problem. Chickens came home to roost and I ain’t sad about that

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Luuk1210@reddit

Genuine question. Would a country of this many people not be polarized?

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-Boston-Terrier-@reddit

You say this like we weren't always so polarized. I mean, heck, around the 2000 election Futurama had a running Jack Johnson vs John Jackson joke about how similar the candidates were. The Democrats have made a sharp left turn over the past 24 years but mostly over the past 9 or so.

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TsundereLoliDragon@reddit

The Kang and Kodos Treehouse of Horror Simpsons episode was even further back in 1996.

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-Boston-Terrier-@reddit

I'm not sure what you're asking me here.

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Ohiostatehack@reddit

The Democrats haven’t made the sharp turn, they’re still very moderate. It’s the Republicans that have gone full racist. The last Republican I voted for was Romney but the party went fully insane after him.

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-Boston-Terrier-@reddit

That's just not true. And there's nothing inherently wrong with Democrats leaving the positions they held in the '92, '96, and '00 elections. It's not like it's criticism of the party. It's just what happened.

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Ohiostatehack@reddit

It’s not true though. The Republican Party swung hard right. Like, even as recently as Bush the Republican Party still supported immigration pathways. Obama drove the Republicans crazy.

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-Boston-Terrier-@reddit

No it hasn't. What **CLEARLY** mean is you don't like the Republican Party and that's fine. I'm not telling you that they're right and Democrats are wrong. But it is the Democratic Party that moved to the left and not the Republican Party that moved to the right.

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Ohiostatehack@reddit

I fucking was a Republican up until Trump. The party went crazy.

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-Boston-Terrier-@reddit

No you weren't and the party's position on virtually every issue today is the same as it was when Romney was the nominee which is the same as it was when McCain was the nominee which was the same as it was when Bush was the nominee. If you can calm yourself down long enough to read through my posts, I am absolutely not telling you to like the Republican party.

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Ohiostatehack@reddit

I voted for Bush, McCain, and Romney. The Republican Party went crazy and racist and fascist with Trump. The Republican Party went so far right it even left Dick Cheney to the left of them.

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-Boston-Terrier-@reddit

No you didn't and that's OK. There's no serious debate here. The Republican Party's political platform has been relatively consistent since the Reagan Administration and nearly every exception to this is the party moving to the left. Same sex marriage is a perfect example of this. The Democratic Party's political position has changed dramatically since 2001 and virtually every issue is a perfect example of this. If you can calm yourself down and read through my posts then you'll see that I am not telling you the Democratic Party is wrong to have moved left. I'm simply stating that they did move left on virtually every issue and they did.

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Ceorl_Lounge@reddit

It's literally not. They're still centrist, neoliberal globalists.

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dgmilo8085@reddit

Both parties have brought their extremities into the fold. In 1999 you would be hard pressed to find much of a difference between the two parties. Clinton and Bush signed each other's policies. After 9/11 a large nationalist movement began, and in order to keep it relevant, the right wing leaned heavily into a fascist, xenophobic base. Almost just to counter it, the Democrats ran to their social extremities and started pushing back. Forums like Reddit applaud gay rights and social programs, abortion and what most people refer to as liberal platforms. Both sides have been running and playing to their extreme wings of their parties for almost 20 years now and it has created a very polar dichotomy. Both sides have been running and playing to the extreme wings of their parties for almost 20 years now, and it has created a very polar dichotomy.

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Ohiostatehack@reddit

Associating some of those things with liberal policies is still a rather new trend. Social platforms and things like the ERA were widely supported by both parties at one point before evangelical Christianity hijacked the Republican Party with Phyllis Schlafly.

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dgmilo8085@reddit

I would agree with that on its face. But upon deeper inspection, government-supported or driven social policy has always been championed by the left. While the right held a stance of hands-off/interference figure it out for yourself individualism (even if their actions and market interferance and legistlation didn't bear that out)

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Ohiostatehack@reddit

And that’s the thing, the left championing social causes is nothing new, that’s not a shift in the party. It’s the Republicans that have shifted from understanding that social issues will progress to actively fighting progress.

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dgmilo8085@reddit

Again, I agree their championing of social programs isn't new. But who they include in the camp and the positions they take are very new. Gay rights is probably the best example; Harvey Milk was not a welcome party member. The left universally ignored gay rights and marriage.

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Luuk1210@reddit

We used to be segregated. We used to have slavery. I feel like we need to all come down to earth

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spaltavian@reddit

Those are bad things. "Bad things" are not the same as *polarization*. Polarization refers to the "shape" of political blocs and consistency of ideology of them. Southern Democrats in the 30s who wanted segregation *also* wanted a welfare state and government regulation. That doesn't happen anymore - now the parties are ideologically coherent. Those with conservative social views have conservative economic views and are skeptical of democracy.

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-Boston-Terrier-@reddit

I never said we didn't have slavery nor do I see how it even relates to anything I said.

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Luuk1210@reddit

To say we werent so polarized when we always have been is my point.

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spaltavian@reddit

Nope. There's data on this. Republicans have become extremely more conservative, starting in the 80s with Reagan but really speeding up with the Gingrich Revolution in '94. Democrats have become somewhat more liberal since 2000. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/06/yes-polarization-is-asymmetric-and-conservatives-are-worse/373044/ https://globalaffairs.org/research/public-opinion-survey/republicans-more-conservative-democrats-are-liberal https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/solutions-to-political-polarization-in-america/confronting-asymmetric-polarization/3966003B2517E22BF288796AC4985F34

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dakwegmo@reddit

I won't say that the Democrats haven't moved even farther left, but do you really think the Republicans are exactly where they were 24 years ago?

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spaltavian@reddit

Yeah. Political polarization is significantly higher than 30 years ago which was more polarized than 30 years before that. A *big* part of it is that the parties have become much more ideologically coherent than in most of the 20th century. The most liberal Republican used to be way more liberal that the most conservative Democrat. There just aren't liberal Republicans anymore; there are hardly any more moderate Republicans. I think sometimes people think "polarized" equals "contentious". The 60s were probably more contentious than today (at least for now) but much less polarized. That lack of polarization did mean there were checks on certain kinds of political disorder. Nixon didn't try to do January 6th; but notably he didn't even try to do a Bush v. Gore. Nixon's own party dumped him in '74; that would never happen today.

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Far-Cod-8858@reddit

Saying that there isnt that many moderate Republicans, I would have disagreed a few days ago, but after Kirk's assassination, I've seen moderate Republicans shoot far right, and apolitical people are very, very angry about it

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Luuk1210@reddit

I think that people want to believe that but we're not more polarized we just have decided the rules dont exist. Like we were never kumbaya as much as performing in public

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spaltavian@reddit

So you just straight up didn't read my comment. > I think sometimes people think "**polarized**" equals "**contentious**". The 60s were probably more **contentious** than today (at least for now) but much less **polarized**.

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Luuk1210@reddit

I did. I disagree which is why I said I dont think we are more polarized.

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Fleiger133@reddit

There's too many of us, across too much space, to not have extreme variations of opinions on everything.

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Ill-Butterscotch1337@reddit

Gun violence isn't new in the US. There was a mass school shooting in a school yesterday. So I think it's already been this bad for a long time.

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Distinct_Damage_735@reddit

[Gun violence (and all kinds of violence) is way down over the last 25 years though.](https://www.statista.com/statistics/191219/reported-violent-crime-rate-in-the-usa-since-1990/)

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Ill-Butterscotch1337@reddit

I never said it was up or down. Just that it happens too often.

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walk-in_shower-guy@reddit

Yes it is, as you can tell from this thread of people pretending to not know what you’re talking about. Imagine someone mentally ill committing murder and trying to make it about guns. They’re gaslighters

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Far-Cod-8858@reddit

Yep, they've been gaslighting since 2018; every bad event and shooting is caused by Republicans, BLM and AntiFa were mostly peaceful, regardless of the millions in damages and dozens dead, and every school shooter is Republican, no matter how left or whatnot their views and actions are, all according to the left of course. The gaslighting the moment Kirk's murderers name is public is going to be the same; probably saying it was a Republican who killed Kirk. I meant MSNBC already said that it was a Republican within minutes of him being shot

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EdithWhartonsFarts@reddit

We are polarized and mainly I say that word as a verb. Things are better in the US on nearly every front than they have been in a long time. Violence is down, crime is down, freedoms are greater, yet conservative pundits, politicians and activists have relentlessly pushed the narrative that things are far worse than they are, that the country is frankly falling apart and, oh by the way, it's b/c of 'them!' They have demonized half the country and mislead the other half to the point that, yes, we're super polarized in a time when we have no real reason to be.

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Far-Cod-8858@reddit

Putting 100% of the blame of the Republicans lol. Both sides are guilty, Rivers, in 2018, telling her followers to make daily life for Trump voters uncomfortable. The last 5 years of public sentiment being 'violence against nazis and racists is acceptable', and i wont admit, real racists and nazis should expect that, but then everyone slightly further right than the democrats has been called racist or fascist, and politicial violence from both sides is seeing an uptick, but now, with Kirk's assassination, I imagine things are more likely to get worse

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Grunt08@reddit

"This" contains no referent. I don't know how polarized you think it is.

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Rich-Contribution-84@reddit

The implication is pretty clear. A controversial political figure was assassinated yesterday.

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Grunt08@reddit

That does not, in fact, make the meaning of "this" clear.

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MovieAshamed4140@reddit

Everyone has an opinion. Everyone chooses, but not everyone fights like they portray in the news. However most GOP and Dems are unable to discuss issues. My take is those really entrenched in their idealism don't trust any news source unless it favors their normal acceptance of the status quo. Also, people are unable to respond with a logical or accurate answer and instead of saying I don't know they deflect or attack. Nothing learned more problems caused. I have a friend in the Carib. we have education, manners, family, love of movies in common. I care a great deal for this gentlman and his family. On politics we disagree, but even when we disagree we listen to each other, remind each other of our valued friendship, and continue on.

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Big-Detective-19@reddit

Online it is as bad as it gets. But online and in person are entirely two different experiences. I retain friendships with most, if not all of the conservatives I socialized with prior to when the heat turned up (~2015/2016), and I don’t think anybody wants any of this to turn into something nasty. I’ll go out on a limb too and suggest that the polarization of the 60s and early 70s was more immediately violent.

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xivilex@reddit

Interesting. I wasn’t alive during the 60s and 70s and I have recently been wondering how today’s turbulence stacks up against it. Of course they are completely different beasts in certain ways, as social media and the internet and smart phones of course weren’t around back then, but still.

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Big-Detective-19@reddit

If you’re interested in the period I think the best pop history book about it is Rick Perlstein’s Nixonland. The events that come to mind for me are the Watts Riot, the Long Hot Summer of 1967, the Weather Underground’s Days of Rage, and the Kent State Massacre, and the Democratic Convention of 1968. Of course the amount of prominent assassinations and attempts is unparalleled too.

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Suitable-Armadillo49@reddit

You're right, as in they were completely different, but the civil violence while less concentrated, individual political murders and all of today, the overall civil confrontations were my much more prevalent then Google the "Long, hot Summer of 1967 "

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G00dSh0tJans0n@reddit

Same. If someone associates with the vile evilness of the alt-right I don’t want them around my kids or in my life. Vile, evil rhetoric and inciting of hate by people of the alt right (thankfully one less of them now) is part of the reason I got my CCW to protect my family.

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Derek-Onions@reddit

I know people on both sides of the aisle and they all had the same response to yesterday. Lots of wackos online

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sanesociopath@reddit

Yes No Kinda Maybe All those answers are correct

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Fleiger133@reddit

It really depends on where you are, and who your friends and family are.

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morosco@reddit

I think most people politely ignore politics in their daily dealings. Social media is loud, and, that does spill over into real life. Some friendships and family relationships are impacted, no question. But its not like we're all on one of two teams fighting each other all day.

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LavalSnack@reddit

Yes and the armed forces remember they swore an oath against all enemies foreign and domestic

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BlazerFS231@reddit

Who designates friendly or enemy, though?

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LavalSnack@reddit

Do they agree with your politics and opinions? If yes : fellow countryman and citizen with rights If not : domestic enemy needing to be handled

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Colodanman357@reddit

No. This is reddit not real life.

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Ordinary_Team_4214@reddit

Yeah, i live in a democratic area of my state and it seriously fells like everyone was super shell shocked. I for one still can't believe it happened and that people are seriously trying to justify it. what an insane time to be alive.

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Colodanman357@reddit

Everyone I know just goes on with their normal lives.

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Ordinary_Team_4214@reddit

Same, but it's something that seemed to hang over everyone's head.

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Colodanman357@reddit

I can certainly see that there in Utah. I haven’t heard a word about either of the shootings yesterday from my coworkers.

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OhThrowed@reddit

It was a topic of conversation at work yesterday. We were all horrified.

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Ordinary_Team_4214@reddit

same here too.

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Fleiger133@reddit

There are parts of the US that are this polarized. I have family in West Virginia, and some have truly atrocious and violent ideas. Some would be fine if I were literally put in a death camp. Full throated teump support to this day, despite all reality because "fuck the libs, yes you too".

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gummibearhawk@reddit

Reddit is so polarized and hateful that were going to remove this post to keep the peace

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Street-Length9871@reddit

Yes you do hear the loudest, and if this is about Charlie Kirk then I would say no, we are not that polarized, most normal Americans are not pro assassination. Online is not accurate regarding what America is, but I have been around this country for a decade or 6, and it is pretty crazy right now. I have friends, none who are fanatics, but who lean pretty far left and pretty far right and we still love one another and live our best lives, as the insanity unfolds around us. I am sure that is true of most anywhere, the internet highlights the worst, but America, we just get a lot of attention. Not saying that is bad or good, we just do. According to the rest of the world, we are pretty loud, but we are people, just like every person typing on this forum. Just people.

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Prof01Santa@reddit

Kirk justified excess violent killing as a reasonable price for widespread gun ownership. So be it.

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skittlesriddles44@reddit

You’re only hearing the loudest individuals. I notice a lot of Europeans get their views on America and Americans from social media. If you only look online, you’ll only see people arguing and the worst of the worst political division. Everyday life in the US is nowhere near as bad as you’ll see online. Things are still not perfect, but don’t take social media as reality please 🙏

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Ok-Produce8376@reddit

Yes, the polarization comes from the top and doesn't appear to be stopping. Until yesterday I had never heard of Charlie Kirk and his body is being flowing on Air Force 2 today? I can't keep up with it all.

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RobMV03@reddit

I think it's probably even worse than it appears. I live in the Northeast, and I would say MOST of the people I know had never even heard of Charlie Kirk before yesterday. One friend, in particular, told me he had never even heard his name before, and this is probably one of my smartest, most news savvy friends, he's not particularly political and I bet if I asked he voted for Obama twice, whoever Trump's most centrist Republican opponent was in 2016, and then begrudgingly for Clinton, Biden just as a vote against Trump, and then sat out this election. He's by no means a liberal, but he thinks Trump is poison. He's a guy with subscriptions to all of the national newspapers who actually reads them daily as part of his research for his job, and he had no idea who Charlie Kirk was. You hear people talking about living in bubbles, and I feel like this is the clearest example. This guy had never even heard of Charlie Kirk before and 50 million plus Americans are ready to start the second civil war over his assassination.

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BlueHorse84@reddit

Same reaction here. "Who's Charlie Kirk?"

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JooJooBird@reddit

To be fair, the event that has highlighted how polarized we are is centered on a person who made a career deliberately polarizing people…

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timshel_turtle@reddit

Most of the folks I know irl have mixed or moderate viewpoints on many social issues. That being said, it feels like we’re being socially pressured to be as extreme as possible and to agree with viewpoints on any topic based on what our “side” is. I honestly am not even sure this is organic or a result of targeted social media campaigns and click-driven news headlines.

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SabresBills69@reddit

Everything started around the mid 90s and yhe beginnings if yhe internet. The internet gave room for marginsl beliefs to find a group of people who feel the same legitimizing views You also had fox news c I me out , aling with internet postings, you had vastly fifferent stories. Previously when you just had ABC, CBS, NBC, snd pbs as TV news sources they were consistent eith nsjir headlines with little differences. Over time you are getting a clear divide. Also with this, are yhr advancement of computers and power which allows for detailed analysis if buying records snd creating partisan districts. In a very partisan fustrict us yhe one that tends to be close to yhe median of thr population. Oreviously most were middle if yhe road do centrist candidates kne. With yhe split in ideology you know have districts that are 70/30 in one party favor ehich then shifts yhe median onecwag ir the other thys creating elected officials to be farther apart politically. The way you fix yhus is by madsykng as many districts as possible be near 50/50 like 49/51 or 48/52. That shifts candidates yo yhe center.

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BlueHorse84@reddit

Jhen wt fiffere t c nsjir?

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OceanPoet87@reddit

Polarization yes, but day to day people at the micro level are still kind to their neighbors.

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-Boston-Terrier-@reddit

I don't know why people just can't answer your question. Yes, the United States is very polarized right now. So much so that knowing your stance on one issue is pretty indicative of what your stance is on a host of completely unrelated issues. There are very few people who aren't in one camp or the other.

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jmilred@reddit

I completely disagree with this take. There are many varied views and people are too quick to judge people based on one viewpoint. They automatically assume that if someone is pro-life, that they are a tea party, gun toting, MAGA quack. Likewise, if someone is pro-choice, people assume they are a full blown communist. The reality is that the vast majority of the country is somewhere between this on the spectrum and the loud outliers get clicks and views.

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Vexonte@reddit

You are hearing the loudest individuals. The majority of people have very strong political opinions and ideas, but not to the extent that social media depicts. The big issue is the very small minority of people who do have such extreme views, on top deteriorating life quality and pre-existing mental issues. These are the people who get on the news.

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Rich-Contribution-84@reddit

Unfortunately a lot of people are. Especially the ones that like to get on TV and post IN ALL CAPS ON THE INTERNET. But not all of us are. It can be true that someone was a total shitbag in life and also be true that they should not have been murdered in cold blood. It can be true that someone people think someone was a total shitbag and others can think that person was speaking truth to power and both groups can mourn the fact that a political assassination occurred. But the loud mouths are gonna celebrate the guys death or make him a matter and argue and turn up the heat and increase the hate. It’s really sad.

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OldRaj@reddit

Anecdotally, we all get along 99.9999% of the time.

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Studious_Noodle@reddit

Yes, we're that polarized. I'm 64 and have never seen anything like it in my lifetime. Not even close.

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willtag70@reddit

There are portions of the population on both sides who are extremely polarized, no question about it. When you ask if it's truly this bad, it's not clear what "this bad" means to you. Did you see video of the violent attack on Congress on 1/6 instigated by the then sitting President? That's quite bad. His sending military troops to some cities with minority mayors and majorities who voted against him is bad. Rounding up undocumented workers by the 1000's, putting them in harsh detention centers, and attempting to deport them without required legal procedures is bad. The defunding of scientific research nationally, and also the international medical and vaccination programs being halted that will result in millions of preventable deaths of innocents, many of whom are children, is quite bad. Now, if you walk around the vast majority of the country you will see everyone going about their daily lives as if nothing is amiss. For most of us things seem normal. So, given all that, is it truly bad, or not?

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CorrugationDirection@reddit

It has gotten worse in the past few years, especially. I dont know what point of reference you are using for level of polarization, but if its anything like the media here in America, it's abdolutely exagerated. But that media exageration is causing the loud ones to get louder and more entrenched. Just using people I know and interact with (family, friends, coworkers, etc...) people aren't talking about politics that much more, and although people are more polarized, its like 15-25% more, not 75-100% more.

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AlfredoAllenPoe@reddit

The internet is not reality. Most people went, "damn, that's crazy. Feel bad for his kids" and moved on

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Reverend_Bull@reddit

The first mistake is thinking there's only the two sides. The second mistake is thinking the two arbitrary sides are equivalent in qualitative or quantitative asshole acts or messaging or aspirations. You've seen this before if you studied your own continent's history, even within the last 80 years.

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AllPeopleAreStupid@reddit

I find that most people I interact with are reasonable and willing to listen and discuss. It's just that the people to the extremes tend to be loud, attract attention because they are bat shit crazy and completely intolerant of other peoples views. This is true on both sides of the spectrum. The extremes are the ones ruining it for everyone else. Social Media pushes those videos and opinions to the front.

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TalkativeRedPanda@reddit

Sort of. Like, do I still wave at my neighbor and pet his dog and make small talk about the weather, despite the fact that his house is decorated with flags of a politician I heavily disagree with; yes. I still treat him like any other neighbor. So in that way, no, it isn't that polarized, we can still "get along" But is US politics now boiled down to two sports teams against each other- also yes.

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dexsullivan@reddit

Its just loud voices. I grew up very liberal in a conservative area, moved to LA and basically only had liberal friends, and then kinda became conservative-ish. I have never made/lost a friend due to politics. My deepest friendships are with both liberal and conservatives. I think it's just social media that makes us seem so divided. On a human level, most people are super chill. Or maybe I'm just lucky in my own interactions.

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poopsichord1@reddit

No. Social media amplifies idiots and the rational are glazed over. If you're using reddit or FB to see it, then you're seeing the biggest idiots live and in action.

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The_Menu_Guy@reddit

The American media gives the loudest people on the right and the left a LOT of airtime. Most USA folks are much closer to the middle. The media and politicians like to fan the flames of polarization, but the reality for most of us is not the way it is portrayed in the media.

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machagogo@reddit

Just the zealots on the fringes.

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Unreasonably-Clutch@reddit

In-person no not at all. People rarely talk politics in Arizona. It's largely considered impolite.

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Heavy_Gap_5047@reddit

I have no idea what you mean by "this bad". But I think it's highly likely your media is sensationalizing, radicalizing, polarizing, and flat out lying. That's what media does.

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Fireguy9641@reddit

You are def seeing the loudest people, but the polarization is a major issue. Between social media echo chambers, twitter messages reduced to 160 characters, memes, and other things, we are rapidly losing the ability to have nuanced opinions. Twitter

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little_runner_boy@reddit

The loudest minority of people are the most polarized. A lot of people are strongly passionate. Most people don't agree with a given party 100%

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Oktogo_2024@reddit

Unfortunately yes. Both political extremes of this country's national body, the arms of state, hack away at each sides of the body politic unaware or unconcerned that to slice open either either side will inevitable kill the whole. It's the left this time, or a deserving member of the right who got his due this time. Next time or the time after it will be flipped. And the cycle will continue with extremists on both sides convinced in their righteousness and victimization. America is a frontier nation without a frontier and like a standing army in a town, it has begun to rape and pillage its own.

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NoOnesSaint@reddit

Observing media, usually the loudest do get reported on the most. These are usually the individuals that make it their "duty" to yell at you and are not the opinions, or at least more extreme than the opinions of, most people. Media wants sensation. That's always been the case, since the dawn of spoken word. I've said it before, being convinced that words make someone your enemy is the greatest tragedy of modern society. It's shallow and sickening.

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Commotion@reddit

It really is polarized. I think only a small percentage of people are on the extremes (advocating for violence, etc.) But I think most people are now on one “side” or the other, and increasingly feel very strongly about divisive issues.

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beardiac@reddit

There were always right-wing nuts and they are a minority, but given current leadership, they are much more vocal and emboldened. A common misunderstanding about the recent election cycles here is that Trump and his il converted Republican voters to his cause. What he actually did was mobilized a faction of people who typically didn't tend to vote (which there are a lot of - even more than just the MAGA crowd). He pied-pipered them into thinking he alone could fix the problems that they felt all career politicians overlooked. But it's all smoke and mirrors and many of them are too entrenched to admit they were wrong.

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TheNerdofLife@reddit

Online, definitely, but in-person, it's mainly in political atmospheres or situations. It intensifies a lot of places overall around election time, though.

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us287@reddit

I do not know the politics of most of my acquaintances and even friends, and I’d like to keep it that way

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getzerolikes@reddit

I had never heard of the guy so that helps in not being divided on this. People are killed by guns every hour in this country so I’m kinda numb to even raising an eyebrow by now.

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TangerineLily@reddit

Most people are in the middle and just lean one direction or the other. The extremes just get more attention.

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Objective_Bar_5420@reddit

It's not just on-line. The lines divide groups, social circles, careers and so on. I've never seen it this bad in half a century. And I'm not immune. There's a growing list of people I avoid due to fear they'll bring up politics. Some I've blocked on line and in real life. I have to stop engaging with them for my own mental health.

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burnbabyburn711@reddit

I’m not sure how bad you think it is, but it’s pretty bad in my eyes. I do not see how it would be possible to ever feel united as Americans again. Personally, I hate the other side and am not interested in any sort of compromise with them. I believe this wound is mortal, and I plan to leave this shithole country one day.

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AggressiveCommand739@reddit

You are hearing from the loudest. Normal people in the community don't act like this. Anonymous online blathering has no real consequences. Real life interactions with other humans have very real consequences, positive or negative.

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RedditModsSuckTaints@reddit

On the Internet sure. In real day to day life not really. Most of us regardless of political affiliation just want to spend time with family and friends, laugh, eat good food and have a strong drink. Online discourse does not really reflect real life.

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thewNYC@reddit

Was France polarized when there was a resistance against the Vichy government?

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BoysenberryUnhappy29@reddit

Yes.

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witchy12@reddit

It got a lot worse with Trump

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law_dweeb@reddit

No, but the turbo-online polar opposites of the spectrum are, and they're getting worse.

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Oceanbreeze871@reddit

I’d say yes. Our divisions start at the city limits.

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holiestcannoly@reddit

I wouldn't say the united states is very united when it comes to politics

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JackBeefus@reddit

That depends on how bad you think it is. We don't know what you've been seeing, so you'll have to be more specific.

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