The increased polarization in America

Another government shut down is happening as a result of the inability between the republicans and the democrats to work together in Washington DC. This is not the first time, but each time seems to be getting worse as the parties are moving further and further from each other and no room for compromises can be found. The rhetoric is getting worse and the politics of both parties are more extreme with little or no space for cooperation. The trend is the same in American media, which virtually have become tools for achieving political goals of the parties, which negatively impacts freedom of speech and media’s independence. Frankly, the political struggle is reaching a new level of escalation and democrats seems to be ready to support violent methods of fighting republicans, for example the “No Kings” movement.

Republicans have decided to label the far-left Antifa organization a domestic terrorist organization and the Trump administration has moved the national guard into violent and dysfunctional cities like Washington DC and Portland, Oregon. It is clear that moderate or centrist positions are becoming rarer in Congress and among the public. Party affiliation has become a core part of personal identity and people increasingly view the opposing party not just as wrong, but as a threat to the nation’s well-being and security. Politics has also become nastier with electoral and institutional factors such as gerrymandering with manipulating electoral districts, filibuster, gridlock and primary elections with low-Partisan news outlets and social media amplify this division with echo chambers and misinformation reinforcing extreme views and demonize the other side.

This is clear from left-wing media such as MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS and other mainstream media outlets and on the right Fox News, Breitbart, Newsmax and One American News to mention a few. The democrats were ready to stomp down on free speech after the January 6, 2021 protest by Congress, where hundreds of thousands of what they considered far-right social media accounts were terminated, including that of Donald Trump. He just received damage payment from YouTube of $25 million for closing down his account. The algorithms in media are contributing to the polarization as the political respective group mostly get coverage from their own side. Algorithms are designed to maximize engagement by clicks, likes, watch time because that is how platforms make money through advertising. They use personal data; machine learning models selecting content and prioritize content that keeps you in the platform. In practice, if you hold one political view, the algorithm will show you more from the same content perspective. Over time, the feeds may become an echo chamber with full of content that confirms and strengthen your existing believes.

In effect this is brain washing over time and will increase radicalization or misinformation exposure. Content prioritizes emotionally charged content with high engagement and often partisan and sensational content over balanced reporting. Algorithms intentionally reinforce ideological differences and people see less diverse viewpoints, leading to stronger polarization. Misinformation and conspiracy theories can spread more easily in the two political camps.

Trump is also part of the polarization as he is vulgar, combative and openly uses horrible language for everyone who does not agree with him, in particular the democrats. On the other hand, he is more for an open dialogue and free speech, whereas the democrats are openly describing desires to forbid elements of free speech, which they deem to far-right. The trend is similar in Europe, where governments in the UK and Germany openly want to stop what they see as far-right movements. In reality, they just want to hold on to power with all means possible. The U.S. is clearly on the wrong path though and the political situation is becoming increasingly polarized and it is difficult to find on common area where the republican and the democrats are willing to work together. For the common man, the situation has change as well as the respective camp finds all news and information they want from their own side, totally splitting the population in two and in effect creating two very different realities, that are fundamentally different. This means that the upcoming elections are more important than ever, but there is no systematic solution until the two parties start working together. This is no signs that this is imminent, so voters should take incoming information as opinions and have the courage to make up their own independent neutral views. The country seems to be falling apart due to polarization, anger and different world views.