how has america become so ideologically polarized?

[shart_attack]

I'm not even sure that's possible any longer, given how tacitly uninformed advocacy journalism and single-issue driven speech—i.e. abortion, gun control, all things gay, etc.—has made us.

Just because we have more options from which to choose with regard to the many avenues we can take to get our news today doesn't mean we know more than we did yesterday.

People are increasingly incapable of processing the information they have available to them, so they are more apt to just go with whatever bias confirming version of truth they happen upon instead of critically thinking about the merits of policies/positions IMO. It is not impossible, but it is certainly improbable.

I was shaking my head in agreement with you until I hit the portion of your post in bold and underlined.

What "is not impossible, but ... certainly improbable"???

 

[Asclepias]

You left one out. Politics has become a pro sports league with rabid fans ready to kill each other over their respective teams. It serves the same purpose as other sports leagues. It distracts you from what is really going on and what you should be focusing on.

 

[Mr Natural]

It started with Watergate and has been tit-for-tat ever since.

 

[westwall]

It started with Watergate and has been tit-for-tat ever since.

Watergate huh..... I think you need to go back a few dozen more years...

 

[shart_attack]

You left one out. Politics has become a pro sports league with rabid fans ready to kill each other over their respective teams. It serves the same purpose as other sports leagues. It distracts you from what is really going on and what you should be focusing on.

No, I didn't.

That is essentially covered in two different yet interrelated poll options:

1.) the special interest groups which effectively pimp those politicians, making them single-issue candidates; and

2.) the overtly or covertly hostile foreign interests and multinational corporations which bankroll those special interests.​

Or, again, wild dogs.

Can't have an online poll without a good metaphor, you know.

 

[Bloodrock44]

Government schools indoctrinating our young.

 

[shart_attack]

Government schools indoctrinating our young.

Good point, yeah.

I like to think that one, however shadowy the case may be, can fit into both the rise of the overreaching welfare state and the political correctness options too, though, as because of both of those options, there are now more exceptions to what First Amendment rights we have than there were in the days of our Founding Fathers.

It's a shame, really:

Wikipedia Fighting Words Exceptions

 

[Two Thumbs]

pols being degenerates is nothing new. The current type of assholery started in the 80's.

as far as whats driving it, I think it's special interest groups getting to much time and attention, much of it faked to intentionally drive wedges, like saying women make less for the same work. It simply isn't true, but every lib thinks it is.

after that, it's the size, scope and roll of the Fed that divides us.
Libs (of all people) want more government and less freedom
Cons want less government and more freedom, even if that freedom sucks for some people.

not our pols though, they want all the goodies from being in charge

 

[Flopper]

The internet and 24 hour cable news cycle.

The Internet provides the means for extremest on both ends of the spectrum to spread half truths, and lies with little or no consequences.

The internet was built without any centralized control which makes control of content difficult if not impossible, a real victory for freedom of speech. However, it also gives billions of people the ability to pass off fiction as fact, If a person has the literary skills they can change public opinion with innuendo, accusations, lies, and one sided arguments and they won't be fired, sued, and probably not even discredited. 50 years ago, journalist and news commentator could not get away with the trash that passes for news and news analysis today.

 

[Nutz]

We are polarized because we no longer discuss the core issues...we are only concerned with sound byte issues that play well on TV and the internet and do nothing more than invoke guttural reactions. All news is now editorialized and is nothing more than entertainment with flashy graphics and outlandish headlines - designed to appeal to a certain demographic to reinforce ideals the audience already has. The idea of an unbiased news source no longer exists as facts and opinion are so intertwined, the stupid among us cannot differentiate the two.

In other words, we have become increasingly lazy and stupid when it comes to understanding issues and why they exist. No one wants to think for themselves...they want to be spoonfed what they should believe by their favorite pundit. People are led to believe that the opposing viewpoint is un-American and those who hold opposing opinions hate American principal and have no love for this nation.

 

[Politico]

The internet and 24 hour cable news cycle.

That is the answer.

Nothing has changed. The majority of people aren't polarized retards. They don't care about this crap. They go about their lives just like they always have. It's a few bobbleheads on tv that make it seem that way.

 

[Mathbud1]

You are viewing the past through rose-colored glasses.

The "ideological divide" right now is not a new thing. The only difference is that the internet has made the loonies on either side louder.

Indeed, the internet is responsible for many of the loonies themselves.

No, the crazies are just crazies to begin with. The Internet just connects them.

The internet also makes it much easier for crazies to get to political information. Before the internet a lot of the crazies probably didn't specialize in politics the way they do now.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[martybegan]

To me the 24 hour news cycle and the internet have just sped up the polarization. The root cause of it is that there are people who want to expand the federal government to the point that the states are meaningless subdivisions, instead of the shared bearers of sovereignty that they were designed to be. The fatal flaw in progressives march towards federal dominance is that it creates an unresponsive bureaucracy that has literally no accountability to the people it is servicing.

 

[whitehall]

What do you think happened to the democrat party when JFK looks like a right wing conservative? The political system is polarized because the democrat party drifted so far left that it's off the charts.

 

[Missourian]

Partisanship has usurped critical thinking.

The same folks who abhorred the war in Iraq cheered for war in Syria...to protect their president.

And the folks who championed the Patriot Act when their team passed it now scream bloody murder when the other side uses it to spy on American's.

And these are simply two glaring examples of thousands depicting how fickle, hypocritical and short sighted we have become in the name of defending our elected officials decisions....in lieu of defending our principles.

 

[shart_attack]

The internet and 24 hour cable news cycle.

The Internet provides the means for extremest on both ends of the spectrum to spread half truths, and lies with little or no consequences.

The internet was built without any centralized control which makes control of content difficult if not impossible, a real victory for freedom of speech. However, it also gives billions of people the ability to pass off fiction as fact, If a person has the literary skills they can change public opinion with innuendo, accusations, lies, and one sided arguments and they won't be fired, sued, and probably not even discredited. 50 years ago, journalist and news commentator could not get away with the trash that passes for news and news analysis today.

So you don't like the First Amendment, then?

 

[theDoctorisIn]

What do you think happened to the democrat party when JFK looks like a right wing conservative? The political system is polarized because the democrat party drifted so far left that it's off the charts.

JFK doesn't "look like a right wing conservative".

JFK was farther to the left than the current Democratic party platform and leadership.

 

[Mac1958]

.

The division pimps - those in the "media" who have a vested financial and professional interest in keeping their "side" angry and combative - have done their job so well that many of their flocks now behave in essentially the same way.

As a result, the whole political environment is dominated by a minority of partisan narcissists who put virtually all of their energy into finger-pointing and spewing simplistic talking points, and none of their energy into cooperating like adults to fix the growing problems this country faces.

The two "sides" hate each other more every day. All the rest of us - the majority - can do at this point is watch and wish these narcissists would find another hobby.

.

 

[Asclepias]

.

The division pimps - those in the "media" who have a vested financial and professional interest in keeping their "side" angry and combative - have done their job so well that many of their flocks now behave in essentially the same way.

As a result, the whole political environment is dominated by a minority of partisan narcissists who put virtually all of their energy into finger-pointing and spewing simplistic talking points, and none of their energy into cooperating like adults to fix the growing problems this country faces.

The two "sides" hate each other more every day. All the rest of us - the majority - can do at this point is watch and wish these narcissists would find another hobby.

.

You are not in "the majority". I have witnessed your backing of and espousal of narcissistic views on several occasions. Its the people that think they are normal that tend to turn out to be the biggest narcissists of all. If you cant simply listen to people and understand their ideas you have no room to point out something with the log in your own eye. BTW you can always do more than just wish and hope. Dont be lazy.

 

[Mac1958]

.

The division pimps - those in the "media" who have a vested financial and professional interest in keeping their "side" angry and combative - have done their job so well that many of their flocks now behave in essentially the same way.

As a result, the whole political environment is dominated by a minority of partisan narcissists who put virtually all of their energy into finger-pointing and spewing simplistic talking points, and none of their energy into cooperating like adults to fix the growing problems this country faces.

The two "sides" hate each other more every day. All the rest of us - the majority - can do at this point is watch and wish these narcissists would find another hobby.

.

You are not in "the majority". I have witnessed your backing of and espousal of narcissistic views on several occasions. Its the people that think they are normal that tend to turn out to be the biggest narcissists of all. If you cant simply listen to people and understand their ideas you have no room to point out something with the log in your own eye. BTW you can always do more than just wish and hope. Dont be lazy.

I'll try to make this clear: Most of us have strong opinions on given issues, and I'm certainly one of those people. But my views on the issues don't conveniently and predictably and transparently fall in line with those of one party or the other. Like good little partisan ideologues.

How about you?

I wonder if you see the distinction.

If you want to pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about, that's your call.

Partisan ideologues utilize spin, deflection, denial, distortion, hyperbole and outright lies as a matter of course, and none of our problems can be fixed without a more honest rhetorical environment. That behavior is killing us, and it appears to be the point of this thread.

.