Someone in another thread (maybe on Reddit, I don’t remember) posited that this is a direct consequence of America’s notion of individualism and I haven’t been able to get that out of my head since.
It’s a slippery slope from individualism to the fear of the Other.
The United States has fetishized individualism. Enough of the population feels that the individual is above/outside/not part of society. And honestly it’s hard to blame them as non participation is becoming the norm due to financial stress, health stress, blatant lack of education, a clear path towards a state sponsored media while the rest of the media just rolls over.
As stress levels rise the commonality guys down. People withdraw from their communities for various reasons and then society starts to compartmentalize. Tribalism becomes the next big thing and before you know it two poor people are fighting because team blue and team red are now mortal enemies that are not allowed to share a single common view.
Racism, mostly.
Someone in another thread (maybe on Reddit, I don’t remember) posited that this is a direct consequence of America’s notion of individualism and I haven’t been able to get that out of my head since.
It’s a slippery slope from individualism to the fear of the Other.
The United States has fetishized individualism. Enough of the population feels that the individual is above/outside/not part of society. And honestly it’s hard to blame them as non participation is becoming the norm due to financial stress, health stress, blatant lack of education, a clear path towards a state sponsored media while the rest of the media just rolls over.
As stress levels rise the commonality guys down. People withdraw from their communities for various reasons and then society starts to compartmentalize. Tribalism becomes the next big thing and before you know it two poor people are fighting because team blue and team red are now mortal enemies that are not allowed to share a single common view.