Divide et Impera

Divide and conquer.

How blind we are. And how stupid and naive we all are. All of us. Myself included.

In the beginning there were Democrats and Republicans. Enough division as it is. But now, there are Democrats and Liberals, but viewed as pretty much the same by the right side. And the right is divided into old school Republicans and new Republicans. Or is it Conservatives and Tea Partiers? Or is it Republicans and Trumpists?

And the black people are now divided as those who stand with Kanye and Trump and those against. And the Jewish people are now divided as those who are against Trump and those who like him and support him still.

At each step, every day, we are divided further and further. And when you think a sub group cannot be divided any more, something happens to drive a wedge between two sides into even smaller groups, who of course hate each other with a passion.

Are we really this dumb? Are we so hell bent on hating each other that we are molded like clay into whichever box they want to put us in?

How do we go backwards from here? Is there going backwards?

Do we have to heal the division between each sub-group first, before moving on to the larger group, or are we so sectioned off already that there is no hope of healing?

And if we cannot achieve this here on ATS, a petri dish of sorts, can similar be expected on a national scale?

a reply to: Mahogany

I doubt that there is any going back. Humans are a warlike species and it seems like the majority of people are thoroughly enjoying the divisiveness. Folks are behaving more and more hateful to each other every day. We are sowing the seeds of our own destruction as a society and even if people would wake up to that fact their egos will never allow them to back down at this point in the game.

Welcome to the Societal Apocalypse!

Fortunately my opinion is the only one that matters to me and I know I am right. The rest of you will have to fight it out. Sorry.

a reply to: Mahogany

Well, I'm in two minds about it.

a reply to: Mahogany

It's funny how being American is turning into a bad thing. Being human is rarely mentioned.

It's much better to be black,white,gay,straight,male,female,dem,rep, etc etc etc.

So everyone complains about the divide.

What do you think needs to be done to heal it?

originally posted by: ketsuko
So everyone complains about the divide.

What do you think needs to be done to heal it?

Offer a hand?

Say I am sorry for all I have said and hope that we can all get along from now on? Compromise? Admit fault?

Offer other honest solutions in return?

No clue. But I'm willing to try.

a reply to: Mahogany

The problem with that is I am not willing to “compromise” my Constitutional rights away so I doubt we can change the way things are going.

originally posted by: Metallicus
a reply to: Mahogany

The problem with that is I am not willing to “compromise” my Constitutional rights away so I doubt we can change the way things are going.

How weird perception is. You feel the left is infringing on your constitutional rights, and the left feels Trump is continually infringing on those same constitutional rights, month after month. Crisis after crisis.

From your point of view they are at fault, and from theirs Trump and his supporters are.

Has anyone lost any rights yet? What was the last constitutional right the left took from you?

originally posted by: Mahogany

originally posted by: Metallicus
a reply to: Mahogany

The problem with that is I am not willing to “compromise” my Constitutional rights away so I doubt we can change the way things are going.

How weird perception is. You feel the left is infringing on your constitutional rights, and the left feels Trump is continually infringing on those same constitutional rights, month after month. Crisis after crisis.

From your point of view they are at fault, and from theirs Trump and his supporters are.

Has anyone lost any rights yet? What was the last constitutional right the left took from you?

Both sides infringe on rights I never said they didn’t. I am opposed to authoritarians and am a Libertarian.

originally posted by: Mahogany

originally posted by: ketsuko
So everyone complains about the divide.

What do you think needs to be done to heal it?

Offer a hand?

Say I am sorry for all I have said and hope that we can all get along from now on? Compromise? Admit fault?

Offer other honest solutions in return?

No clue. But I'm willing to try.

I agree we ran into a situation at work where everybody was bickering back and forth it accomplishes nothing, so we have one day a month to have discussions the rest we work and we all are happier. might have to skip over some stuff but yea it could be productive

Yes. Humans are controllable and will follow.

Could be seen as dumb.

a reply to: Mahogany

The thing is that the left is for a larger, more powerful government in control of making more decisions for us.

In making more decisions, it necessarily infringes on our rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Leftists policies would take control of large sectors of the US economy turning them into public endeavors over private ones -- government control. This would necessitate higher taxes and loss of tax payer freedoms in areas of personal economic liberty (loss of personal means) and freedom of choice when it comes to those areas of the economy.

Government meddling in order to create "affordable" options almost always create market distortions that create hardship for those who are outside the "affordable" options. We could cite how Medicare, Medicaid, Tri-Care, and Obamacare regulations have distorted what was left of the health care market making it even more unafforable for private consumers than it was before, and go back even further to the market distortions the government created that started the idea of employer=sponsored healthcare as a benefit forever chaining those things in most Americans' minds.

We could also examine the public school system which is likewise a government created near monopoly that drastically underserves most of the children trapped in it.

Private citizens are tapped for endless resources and trapped into failing systems with little to no recourse.

This is what the left seems to be hell-bent on creating more of. They fear the alternative which is to have to figure out how to make do on their own. Yes, I agree, it's messy because sometimes people cannot do on their own. But which is worse - systems that will deprive most all of us or systems that allow most to find their way but some will get lost?

And when I say some get lost, I am not talking about the ones who have no chance to help themselves, but the ones who chronically make poor choices but could do for themselves.