I have heard many superlatives associated with this election, with commentators calling it the most consequential and significant. While this is certainly true, I am more concerned that it is being called the most divisive election in history.
Mounting evidence points to the extreme polarization of the electorate. When Americans were asked about the worst modern president in 2018, Donald Trump came in first, but Barack Obama came in second. When asked about the best modern president Donald Trump and Barack Obama both came in the top five. When examining the Obama presidency, tens of millions saw it as the best example of leadership but tens of million saw it as the worst. Similarly, tens of millions of Americans held the Trump presidency as both the best and worst. How is this possible?
Another revealing statistic is Trump’s approval rating, which is remarkably stable. His approval rating hovers around the low 40s and his disapproval rating hovers around the low 50s. One would assume that when an individual does something well the approval rating would increase and when the individual does something poorly the approval rating would decline. The data does not follow this pattern.
If you translate the percentages into real numbers, the data shows that there are +100 million Americans who think almost everything Trump does is good, and everything Obama did was bad. Similarly, there are +100 million Americans who believe nearly everything Trump does is bad, and everything Obama did was good. This polarized worldview is divorced from reality.
How did we get to this point? There are three historical events that culminated in our current position. The first is the expansion of the vote through universal male suffrage and the development of cheap print in the late 1800s. Cheap newspapers resulted in “yellow” journalism that sought to sensationalize political events to sell newspapers. These newspapers did not care about the truth nor did they seek to inform the population. Rather every political ideology had a separate newspaper that reinforced the opinions of its readers due to the publisher’s desire to have a stable readership.
Fast forward to 1980 and the second event: the launch of CNN and the 24-hour news network. There is not enough news to report on for 24 hours. Cable news could not survive using a 30-minute headline news model. They had to shift away from reporting the news to creating the news. As a result, cable news programs are highly opinionated and focus on commentary. Every cable news channel, like the cheap newspapers of the late 1800s, now serves a distinct ideology and follows the same model of reinforcing views, instead of challenging them, in order to build viewership and make more money through advertising revenue.
In the past decade, individuals began to receive political information through social media companies such as Twitter, YouTube, or Facebook. Based on what accounts you follow, you can create a stream of endless material that pleases you and also reinforces your opinions. This constant political affirmation, known as an echo chamber, is the root cause of our divided society.
Social media has created two separate realities: one for Democrats and one for Republicans. Democrats and Republicans do not merely disagree. They are incapable of having an intelligent conversation. Did you watch the presidential debates? Have you spent time on Twitter? One side could be speaking Latin, and the other side could be speaking Greek.
Who benefits from this division? This system makes political commentators insanely wealthy and powerful. They pontificate on politics and win devoted followers, but are they really interested in the betterment of the country? Are we being fooled? Are they laughing all the way to the bank? This new system has also made the Big Tech companies billions of dollars. They relish in the fact that Americans spend hours and hours on their platform consuming political information. They do not care if the information is accurate or helpful as long as people stay online and consume more advertisements. Both groups seem content to cash in as the country inches closer to civil unrest.
Like our nation, Catholics are divided. I see Catholic families, priests and bishops fighting over politics. Many putting their political allegiance above their faith. Most are good people with good intentions, but they have been duped.
Too many Catholics are consumed by their hatred for Trump or Biden that they are oblivious to the system that has created that hatred and is ripping our communities apart. Too many Catholics are consumed by their hatred of the other side that they fail to see their own endorsement of anti-Christian principles.
Catholics need to stop fighting against each other in the political sphere and instead work together to form a Catholic culture inspired by the faith. Imagine how the world could have been transformed if all the energy, time and resources used to fight each other could have been used for the advancement of Christian ideals.
The political class, pundits and media companies all want to divide us for their benefit. Do not let them.
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