Tribalism At Its Finest

 OK, so we made it through the election season! Phew! What an absolute circus that was. Now we have about 1 1/2 years before the mid-terms next year.

Just breathe.......

Now it's time to get some things done.

And therein lies the next domestic problem; our tribalism is tearing this country apart. In fact, it might possibly be the largest issue we have amongst ourselves as Americans. "us vs. Them"

My personal belief is that a large portion of this problem stems from people being absolutely terrified of being wrong. Having lived your life a certain way for however many years you've lived it. Having owned a guiding set of beliefs that, whether popular or not, might turn out to be inexorably incorrect. This happens on the fringes of both sides of the aisle to be certain. Without having any reasoning other than, "if he was for it, then we had to be against it."

Just stupid.

However, I blame a large portion of this issue on the corporate media, whom I hate to my very core. BOTH sides of the political spectrum are represented in the corporate media hierarchy. And both sides, more often than not, spin a given story to most closely meet the narrative that they're trying to achieve. Often leaving out extremely important details and key events in a given series of events included in the story. Then those choosing to live their life in a silo take the story and run with it only to be checked by someone who's actually informed on the topic.

We have to get to a point where we can talk to one another without name-calling, ad hominem arguments and yelling. (typically the person yelling is wrong so they resort to the aforementioned tricks)

I choose to speak to people whom I disagree with in the hopes of learning something new. God knows I don't have all the answers! One of the main things that I've learned is that American voters seem to be better versed in domestic issues, and more specifically social issues than international goings-on; and by a large margin regardless of political affiliation. That's fine I suppose, but the things that will cause us the greatest damage historically come from outside our borders. Something to think about I guess.

It's possible that because I'm a political junkie that I'm simply trying to gather as much information as I can retain. But I would like to think that I would apply this desire to seek out differing opinions would be applied to other areas of my life if I wasn't so wrapped up in this mess we call politics.

So, in closing, I would encourage anyone reading this rag that you seek out new information because the corporate media is paid for by those with an agenda and an axe to grind politically. Stop watching it and see if your general outlook on life doesn't improve.