The ugly side of polarization, politics and debate

I think what I have seen in the past 1-2 months, especially on this board, is phototypical of a greater phenomenom in politics. It is the ugly "us versus them" battle, the "either with us or against us" type of dichtomy.

It always starts innocently enough. Two sides, equally passionate for their cause, rally around their cause in support of it. And for a while, things remain positive. Things begin to decline, however, after the first salvo is shot. Pretty soon, a response must be made, which begets a response from the opposing side, and back again, and so on and so forth. Pretty soon, you find yourself in the midst of a thick rhetorical battle, except neither side is interested in convincing others that they are right. Instead, they are more interested in tearing down the other side, making the other side look as bad as possiblily it can look. In the end, the true causualties are civility, reason and rational debate.

I think the prime example of this can be the abortion debate (a debate which I have grown to simply despise the lack of any rational debate from either camp), where two sides--self described as "pro-life" and "pro-choice" (so as to automatically deem their opponents "anti-life" and "anti-choice")--have engaged in a decades long battle which has done little but to enrich the manufacturers of lame bumper stickers. But whereas the abortion debate has been a slow simmer over the past three and a half decades, this Democratic primary has been a veritible, super-intense microburst of two candidate's supporters passions. And while in the beginning it was as simple as a pep-rally for the respective candidate, it has grown to a proportion which poisons the atmosphere for what lies ahead.

Perhaps the fact that either candidate would make history as either the first woman president or the first African-American president has supercharged the passions of both camps. And that be all fine and good, but for the fact that we have lost sight of the objective in our willingness to fight for the nomination. Neither campaign is innocent; neither group of supporters is exempt. I can say that measures must be taken to counteract the dark atmosphere that has erupted as a result of this polarization.

From "The Motorcycle Diaries".

A sentiment fully confirmed every election.