Growing Asymmetry in the Rhetoric of Polarization

This week…as a reader pointed out last week, there seems to be a growing asymmetry in the rhetoric of polarization: While the right is brimming with accusations of “the left,” the left tends to point more and more not to ”the right,” but to specific individuals on the right. Mostly, of course, President Trump. And for good reason. The ideologically idiosyncratic Donald Trump clearly has thrown a wrench in the neat category of “right.” So the left is not sure where or what, exactly, the best target is. Which serves as a reminder that the danger of polarization is not a matter of right vs left – though that is how it typically manifests. The danger of polarization is that it is the lingua franca of authoritarianism – of declamation over discourse, division over resolution, emotion over thought, tribalism over reason, power over persuasion.

When reading these examples, check the above list and ask yourself: regardless of whether you agree or disagree, is this really advancing an intelligent resolution through the persuasive, rational arguments of advocacy…or simply fueling the fire of conflict through the divisive, emotional manipulations of polarization?

Here are just a few of the blue and red polarizing headlines from the past week.