Growing Political Polarization: Signs of an Impending World War?

It’s been a few days since US President Donald Trump tested positive for the Coronavirus. What I have seen on the Internet over the past few years has been increasingly pointing towards political polarization, and that’s the reason I came out of retirement (so to speak), to pen down this article about where we’re headed as a generation if we can’t find a solution to this ever-increasing political polarization, and soon. The problem is the celebration of people when Trump was diagnosed, and due to this age, was deemed at a high risk of dying from the virus. Political preferences aside, celebrating someone’s illnesses and wishing death on someone is not my definition of healthy political discourse. A similar phenomenon in India was observed when Home Minister Amit Shah tested positive for the virus a while ago, and this represents a part of an ever-growing serious problem that needs to be addressed.

The divide between conservatives and liberals, right-wingers and left-wingers, or whatever term you prefer to use, has been deepening and widening over the years, to the point where meaningful discussions and debates among people on opposite sides of the political spectrum just cannot happen. Two of the places where this can be seen and noticed more significantly are India and the United States, and this can be traced back to the 2014-2016 period, when Modi and Trump assumed power in these countries respectively.

But what is behind this polarization? How are both sides contributing to this, and what could the consequences be if this situation isn’t resolved as soon as possible? Let’s find out.

How are the Liberals at Fault?

Ahh, the liberals. Where do we start? Maybe calling them liberals would be wrong, because they come in all shapes and sizes, representing a variety of ideologies. But a few common factors that unites and easily identifies all liberals regardless of their location or political beliefs:

1.  Self-proclaimed intellectual superiority. In any political discussion, the liberal can be identified by their tone of condescension, their increasing willingness to throw out terms like fascism, sexist, and racist at the slightest provocation, and their general assumption that anyone who doesn’t agree with them probably “doesn’t have the intellectual capacity to understand their argument”
2. Being as outspoken as they come. Another marked trait that identifies an individual as a liberal is their determination to speak out their opinions on any and every discussion, whether or not their contribution is asked for. You can open any social media platform on any given day and search for literally any political issue, and you’ll see that the majority of the Internet is leaning left. However, that doesn’t seem to show in polling booths and elections, as a majority of elections both in India and abroad are won by right-leaning leaders. A major reason for this has been low voter turnout in left-leaning constituencies both in India and the US, which basically means that most of the left is all talk and no work.

But enough with the liberal-bashing though. Let’s talk problems and solutions. In my personal (supposedly unbiased) opinion, the major reason for the problem on the side of the liberals is their tone of condescension and their belief that they can “bully someone into believing their ideologies”. They’re also very quick to categorize and sort people, which further alienates people who might be on the fence with regard to some issues.  This polarizing behaviour coupled with their bullying tendencies have been a major contributing factor in the polarizing situation that we find ourselves in.

How are the Conservatives at Fault?

If you thought liberals were rigid and condescending, don’t even get me started on the conservatives, who are, in most cases, equally as bad, if not worse. But let’s look at their defining traits first: 

1. Refusal to consider any POV except their own. In any discussion, the conservative generally refuses to even attempt to consider any other POV except for his own, and terms any opposition to their ideas as blasphemy, either against the country, a particular religion, or their own personal believes. They are also big on the idea of one big nation and would generally choose the country over the individual without a second thought.
2. A general rigidity with regard to new times. Conservatives can also be identified by their desire to conserve (well, duh!) the status quo, which might result in them taking some stances that might not go over well with the society due to the constantly advancing times. Some of the issues on which conservatives have recently taken such stances include homosexuality, abortion, and feminism.

Now that we’ve got the conservative-bashing out of the way (gotta keep up the pretence of being unbiased, you see), let’s identify some of the ways in which conservatives are contributing to the polarization. The first and foremost reason is, quite obviously, their refusal to engage in any meaningful discussion or exchange with the liberals. While this is partly due to their belief that liberal values will erode their own culture (not necessarily untrue, but that’s not a bad thing). Another possible reason for this is their general reluctance to speak on political issues. Conservatives, more often than not, do not openly prance about talking about their political beliefs, rather save it for the polling day, which means that there is no meaningful opportunity to change their mind or to learn why they think the way they do.

Is Jane Austen the Root of All Evil?

Probably not, right? But if I had to summarize the basic problem in two words and pinpoint an exact cause, my answer would be Pride and Prejudice. Pride on both sides leads them to discard the other side as “wrong” and not “different”, which means that it turns into a combat or a fight instead of a debate. The aim becomes to prove the other side wrong and not to arrive at a general consensus which satisfies the maximum number of people. This also gives rise to inflexibility as neither side is willing to forego anything or compromise for fear that it would make them appear weak.

Prejudice also has a big role to play in this regard. There are certain stereotypes that each side has regarding the other, which also cloud over their judgement and have a role to play in their discussions and debates, thus preventing them from arriving at a peaceful and mutual resolution.

How does it matter though? Political polarization is nothing new, but such high levels of contempt and hatred for another ideology have not been seen in a long time. In fact, the last time political support became political fanaticism, we has World War 2 and 45 million people lost their lives. However, there are bigger issues than an impending war, and that is that due to the lack of any productive consensus between ideologies and any common ground, any policies that are made by any government will almost certainly be one-sided and will not cater to the interests of the country at large. To avoid such a situation, it is crucial that this polarization be mitigated through peaceful and meaningful debate and discussion, where both sides have mutual respect for one another, and are working towards a solution and not a victory.

Sigh! The utopian idealistic dreams we sometimes have.  

-NK