America Polarized?

[socraticenigma]

Did anyone else see the recent ABC programme "State of the Union: A Country divided" hosted by the perennially boyish George Stephanopolous:

abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2140483&page=1

It was a disturbing account of communities in the U.S. becoming ever more homogeneous - separate both physically and intellectually from each other; virtually unable, let alone unwilling to understand an alternate point of view; socializing with like-minded people who reinforce their prejudices.

Is this truly the case? Do those of you in the States feel that there are groups in your society with whom you have little in common and are unable to communicate with? Has the rise of the religious right contributed to this?

Socraticenigma

[necroshine]

I live in the usa and I can tell you that religious right is blind to other ideas. I have seen this many times. Just read my post on gay marriage. People have told me that gays shouldn’t have the sames rights as other people because the bible says so. The religious right is only made up of bigots and people who can not see past their own nose. They will tell you how to live while they break the laws themselves that they find inconvenient. I have never had as much hate in my life towards the church as I do right now. With the gay issue as hot as it is now I find it hard not to be mad at the people in the church. At least the ones that don’t want to stand up for human rights. In my state it use to be against the law for interracial marriage. Now it is against the law for gay marriage. We are moving backwards in America. I blame peoples ignorance and unwillingness to learn. They just want to repeat what is told to them about the bible. Most don’t even what to read the book that they say they believe in. most people I ask have told me that they have never sat down and read the bible. How in the world can you profess a belief in a book that you have never read?

[Dragon*of*Heaven]

In answer to your question necroshine it is because of two things: A) the preacher says it is right there for it is right, and B) it is because they have faith. To quote one of my favorite books: "Faith is a device of self-delusion, a sleight of hand done with words and emotions founded on any irrational notion that can be dreamed up. Faith is the attempt to coerce truth to surrender to whim. In simple terms, it is trying to breath life into a lie by trying to outshine reality with the beauty of wishes. Faith is the refuge of fools, the ignorant, and the deluded, not of thinking, rational men." (Terry GoodKind)

As to your question Socraticenigma, I too live in the states. I agree with Necroshine completely on this one. America is quickly moving in to a rapid shrinking of its ability to harness the free thinking population that once made up its better half (founding fathers any one). This shrinking is probably only going to amount to an explosion of problems in the long run. This will probably leave us (the free thinkers ) to pick up the pieces when the reign of religion is over. I have personally made a strong endeavor not to be sucked into this cycle by enrolling my self into a college that has about 120 students (the college opened last year) and only a 1 percent non catholic population (ie. Me). The way I figure it this way my mind will stay open and I will not be of that population which reinforces its ideas, instead I am part of the population what lives on the bladed edge of questions.