Polarization

Recently up on this site is was a piece about apathy, or people choosing to ignore things that "aren't their business". Well, now I want to discuss the flip side of this issue. Social media is a problem, as it's nowhere near representative of reality, and it keeps people plugged into a largely negative state. It also is a scene that more or less is divisive and turns into one side vs the other in pretty much every situation. Here, I'll explain why that's representative of wider issues in society.

The immediate thought I had that made me start typing this after posting the other article is this election hysteria. I only really use TV nowadays for sports, mainly footy and whatever American sport playoffs are going on, and I've seen so many freaking ads for this damn election. I've made it clear that I think both sides are full of it and only look out for their best interests. That's actually part of the issue I have with this whole dichotomy of life. It's like, why would people vote for or support causes that don't benefit them? I think it comes down to wanting to be viewed as a hero or something; also known as altruism. To me, in "politics", whatever scope that takes in everyday life, people are more likely to the talk than walk the metaphorical walk. In the other article I mentioned sexual dynamics/energy stuff within society, and a big part of this is Instagram and the ease of visual stimuli, and the fact that it's transactional. To avoid going to far in depth in that, because that isn't the point of this, I find it hilarious when "instathots" post heartfelt/political stuff, when 90% (and that's being conservative) of their followers are there for ass. Let's be real. But yeah, on there I've seen these individuals, with their monetized thirst trap accounts linked to their profiles, getting all into these "woke" causes. I guess what I'm saying here is there's an obvious hypocrisy claiming moral superiority, which is rampant in politics or whatever, while selling softcore porn, or hardcore, or being a literal prostitute.

Next, I want to elaborate on the election/politics issue. There's this phrase, or saying, whatever, "let's agree to disagree". Nowadays, with the polarization, that simply doesn't happen. I remember four years ago, around the time of the last election, I think it was late summer, hanging out with my boys from high school late at night, talking about voting and what not. Personally, I think it's a social media thing, at least in part, but it seems like you can't have a civilized discussion anymore. Part of that is the fearful state of this year, sure, but it's been building up. Another obvious catalyst is the race war. In short, this country is in some ways very corrupt, as well as racist, while in others one of if not the best in the world. I'll explain. Depending on your view on conspiracy type stuff, rich people from "modest beginnings" are pretty much owned by the mega rich. So, in essence, it might look like they're thriving and living the perfect life, but they're being controlled and cannot get out of their situation if they don't like it. The point of me mentioning this is race is overemphasized on a daily basis. I don't know what it's like in Europe because I haven't lived there, but even compared to Canada (Toronto, specifically) race is shoved down people's throats here. It easily flows over to politics, where black people are overwhelmingly "left wing", for whatever reason. I've been studying it more, of late, with the extra time I have. I never liked history in school, to be fair. Anyways, the long-winded point I'm trying to make is celebrities shouldn't be looked at for any sort of wisdom. That's one point I wasn't initially going for, but it's directly related to my next one, which harkens back to the second sentence of the paragraph. People straight up act like one's political leaning or whatever is their personality. It's like being gay/trans, a certain race, a fan of _ team/artist, having shitty tattoos... None are actual personality traits, but people group themselves accordingly. This also means they follow people who think the same way, which leads to an echo chamber effect, and the aforementioned polarization. In fact, there's a whole movie about it, called the social dilemma.

I think the whole point of this is people would be happier and live better lives if they stopped worrying about dumb things that put them in certain boxes. Almost none of it matters.

Slight update:

The "big day" was yesterday, the 3rd, and I have some additional thoughts to add. First is the question of what the president actually does. I don't immerse myself in politics, but when looking at the big picture of voting, it's relatively pointless at the national level. Local issues, however, may actually affect you, as well as state-wide ones, since this "country" is really a collection of states/commonwealths. What exactly has the current president done to warrant this vitriol? Saying something, or telling a segment of the population what they want to hear, is nowhere near actually putting laws into effect. That's the whole point of checks and balances. For another example, let's take the black demographic of America, since I'm black and can talk about "my community" as it were. The way I see it, aside from media narratives, nothing has changed in a long while, since like 2008. That's when the recession hit, or whatever. A more specific example is the police brutality stuff. It's as if people forget that it hit the mainstream around 2012, and has been going on since then. I don't see many, or any if I'm honest, examples of Obama doing anything for black people during his time as president. It's like now; you get the media to tell you Trump's racist or whatever -ist or phobic you want to use, and people will buy it. I made the mistake of going on Twitter (when is it ever a good idea?) and clicking on this "trending" thing about family members being "disowned" or whatever over who they vote for. This is 100% what I'm talking about and why I'm even typing this. Just think about how immature and petty it is to "disown" family or friends over something as insignificant as one vote in a presidential election. The reason I say it this way is the reasoning I saw on twitter. Basically, people say "we can't be friends if you vote for _ because he/she wants me dead/to take away my rights." There are at least three layers to peal back here, because it's overdramatic to the highest level.

First, like I said, the president doesn't have much (if any) power. He's a figurehead. He doesn't pass laws. Rights that are established in the Constitution can't simply be erased by the president; it doesn't work like that. I think they call it gaslighting; making people "buy in" to you argument by playing the victim and acting like anyone who disagrees is Satan.

Next, and this pertains to the current circumstances, is the whole idea of "rights". I won't delve into the mask thing and whether it's necessary/effective, but to have the audacity to talk about rights in this chaotic, collapsing society is dense. I've always said, you have "rights" to the extent that you can protect them your damn self. Do you really think if aliens or some foreign enemy came to colonize America, using force against the pathetic citizens currently inhabiting this country, that they'd give a solitary fuck about your "rights"? Hell no. Or that the government, if they decide to turn on the citizens, wouldn't annihilate every dissenter? They would. This even goes for the gun crowd; I get wanting to protect yourself, but the military would destroy you and your homeboys 10 times out of 10 if it came down to it.

Finally, I just cannot fathom sometimes how lonely/sheltered/deluded people are. You see it on the internet, where this polarization occurs, yet you rarely see it in the "real world". Again, I look at how this year has "changed" people, mostly for the worst, and how I'm probably doing better than before. I was thinking about it yesterday, the idea that people had "lives", whatever that means, and I didn't really. I even caught a YouTube video last night where a fellow black man, around my age, was describing a recent concert. I was all about concerts a few years ago. Even before this crap, I hadn't been to one in two plus years, despite going to 4 or 5 from age 18-22 or so. Long story short, the guy didn't want to go, thinking about the "degenerate" behaviors he'd be around, and the lack of sustenance in that type of music. Lo and behold, his car, along with many others, was burgled, so his instincts were right. The reason I include this is the way of life before was already heading downhill, for a long while, and we should all be looking to better ourselves, as well as come together for the greater good. That, of course, will never happen, due to the countless distractions and divisions conveniently available daily in society. On the whole, people will continue living pointless lives, worrying constantly about irrelevant things, such as presidents, elections, sports, "pop culture", and what we're seeing now will dovetail further until... who knows.