This Week in Polarization

Columns about polarization and depolarization written by Greg Munford

And the Beat Goes On…

This week…same as last week. And the week before. And the week before. The goal of exciting bases, pointing fingers and characterizing the “other” take precedence over finding common ground, resolving differences and finding solutions.

Neros Instead of Heros

This week…in a sobering reminder of the very real costs of the dysfunction of polarization, we bury a few more men, women and children as our ”leaders” go about exciting their bases and pointing fingers rather than resolving differences and finding solutions.

The Damage of Bashing the Other Side

This week offers a wonderful textbook case for one of the favorite technique of polarization: Instead of arguing the pros or cons of a controversial issue with the goal of working toward resolution, cynically use—indeed, supercharge— that issue to bash the other side.

Polarizing Rants

They generate money, clicks, attention, votes. What’s hard to understand is why so many fall for them, and don’t recognize the damage they do.

Hyperbole and Straw Men

This week the polarizing technique of accusing the other side of hypocrisy and lying, rather than arguing against the substance of what they want to accomplish seemed to dominate.

Covington

For an exhilarating few days of breathless finger pointing, “the smirk” captured even more of the polarizer’s angry attention than “the shutdown.”

An Emerging Bright Side

The infantile faceoffs that make up the daily news is causing some to stop and actually think about not just what their opponents are saying, but what they themselves are saying.

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