This week . . . as we reflect on the 50TH anniversary of the murder of Robert Kennedy, and remember the terrible divisions in our country of that time, the poem so often quoted back then, Yeats’ “The Second Coming,” seems chillingly appropriate today. It’s hard not to wonder, as we accuse, insult and distrust our fellow citizens—and our oldest friends and allies—what “rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
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 week’s polarizing headlines, from the left and right:
Red Headlines
Blame California’s Crazy Left-Wing Politics for Water Rationing
Liberal Media Forced to Admit Economy is ‘On a Roll,’ Jobs ‘Excellent
Democrats Don’t Realize Their Dirty Tactics Will Be Turned Against Them
Krauthammer Is Dying With Dignity While Liberals Are Living With None
Bourdain: Casualty of Leftist Mindset
Liberals Cry Free Speech For NFL Kneelers But Want Conservatives Fired For Their Opinions
Blue Headlines
GOP Attacking Healthcare Again: This Is War
Unpatriotic GOP Is ‘Flunking A Major Character Test’ By Supporting Dangerous, Immoral Trump
Supreme Court Gives Republicans Another Tool to Rig Elections with Voter Purge Decision
Right-wing media’s latest pathetic attempts to smear Google as leftist radicals
Republicans are along for Trump’s racist, authoritarian ride. But don’t give Trump all the credit.