One Year Later—Polarization Is Still Sinking America
Trump supporters protest on the steps of U.S. Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021. Photo by Yuri Gripas/ABACAPRESS.COM

One Year Later—Polarization Is Still Sinking America

A year after the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6th during a 2020 election protest, polarization prevails in the United States and lack of trust has only deepened. Only 20% of Americans have faith in the integrity of its election system (a nearly 50% drop from the previous year) according to a new ABC/Ipsos poll. Finding a common ground between Republicans and Democrats to recover public confidence looks impossible, but there is no other alternative in this matter of existential importance.  

There is no problem with different camps being in disagreement as there will always be differences in opinions. The real threat is the extremism. The current mistrust and strong mutual accusations are eroding America's social fabric.
The situation is so bad now that it is hard to believe it could get even worse. But the current breakage being revealed now in US politics and between its citizens actually poses a unique opportunity for all to realize that there is no way to survive and thrive unless the country unites.  

Exactly one year ago former President Donald Trump's supporters invaded Capitol Hill in an attempt to prevent the ratification of Joe Biden as the nation’s leader. At that time the country was fraught with deep political divisions and social tensions that ripped Americans apart into two factions. While half of the nation exuberantly celebrated, the other half felt disenfranchised, frustrated, and angry which boiled over into vehement questions of fraud in the electoral process.  

Nothing has changed much. The wounds are deep, still raw, open, and bleeding. America remains torn apart and the social divide has intensified. A recent University of Massachusetts poll reveals that 71% of Republicans consider Joe Biden’s victory illegitimate, and on the other side, 91% of Democrats believe Biden was duly elected.  

It is in everyone’s common interest to overcome their differences to keep America afloat. 

There is no problem with different camps being in disagreement as there will always be differences in opinions. The real threat is the extremism. The current mistrust and strong mutual accusations are eroding America's social fabric. The situation is so bad now that it is hard to believe it could get even worse. But the current breakage being revealed now in US politics and between its citizens actually poses a unique opportunity for all to realize that there is no way to survive and thrive unless the country unites.

The alternative scenario is an unbearably explosive situation of constant strife that is on course to erupt into the total internal disruption of America. This will clearly not benefit any side or any individual. In the interdependent and interconnected reality we live in, breaking the boat that keeps everyone afloat will only sink and drown all so quickly that no means of bailing out will remain. Currently each side is too busy paddling in its own direction to even notice there is a hole in the boat.  

What is needed is to reveal something that currently does not exist: a common denominator to repair the breakage. The disparate positions can yield this together, and only together. The Republicans lean to the economic side, to industry, and the military, and Democrats lean toward social movements, massive protests, rousing pretty words to achieve their agendas. Can one live without the other? No, that is impossible, one side cannot wipe out the other; they need to be balanced in such a way that the trust in the democratic system is restored.

The two opposite parties and their followers that are currently in a trajectory of greater separation need to do the opposite of their current inclinations and instead get closer, not because they profoundly love each other or even agree with each other, but because they need to find their shared interest, the nation. It is in everyone’s common interest to overcome their differences to keep America afloat. 

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Life’s a Game, but Can We Win?

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When you look at people immersed in computer games, you get the feeling that they would readily jump into the computer and become the avatars that represent them in the game. Indeed, computer games answer all our questions. Some people even believe that in the future, we will live in a computer network and communicate with one another in a world that is completely virtual. But games have a purpose: to make us ask about reality and our place in it.

The only way to win the game is to ask about its purpose. When we ask, it is as if we stop the game and demand to know why we're playing in the first place. In life, too, we should stop and ask why we do what we do, why there are stars, air, Earth, people, why everything exists and why we live. When we ask these questions, it is like going back to our childhood when we asked ourselves these questions. When we ask, the questions themselves bring us answers, and answers are the only victory we need.

From a broader perspective, we can see that our “reality” is a game, as well. We buy, sell, win, and lose. If you tell a child what you do all day, he will tell you that you, too, play games.

For most people, today's games are different from the ones their parents played. They no longer play ball or ride their bikes through the park. They play on their phones, alone or with other people online, or they watch others play.

There is a reason for this. We build reality according to our desires. As our desires have changed, our games have changed accordingly. As we have become more self-absorbed and narcissistic, our games have changed to reflect our self-centeredness.

Also, in many ways, children in today's games feel like they are building their own world. This is far more satisfying than playing basketball, for example. If we, adults, felt like we were building an entire world to live in, much like kids do in Minecraft, for example, we would never come out of the game.

On the computer, on the playing field, or in life, we play to win. But thousands of years ago, the authors of the Midrash said (Kohelet Rabbah), “One does not leave the world with half one's wishes in one's hand, for one who has one hundred wants two hundred; one who has two hundred wants four hundred.”

The only way to win the game is to ask about its purpose. When we ask, it is as if we stop the game and demand to know why we're playing in the first place. In life, too, we should stop and ask why we do what we do, why there are stars, air, Earth, people, why everything exists and why we live. When we ask these questions, it is like going back to our childhood when we asked ourselves these questions. When we ask, the questions themselves bring us answers, and answers are the only victory we need.

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A Good Slap to Calm Us Down

The latest strain is really turning everything we’ve known about handling the pandemic on its head. It is super contagious, generally mild, and no vaccine seems to protect against it. In short, it has taken two years of unprecedented efforts and unmatched investments and made a mockery of them. It is just the slap we needed in order to wake up from our delusional efforts to maintain our previous way of life. Instead of fighting a doomed war, we should put our heads together, and design a safer and calmer way to live.

I don’t regard the virus as an illness; I regard it as a cure. The healing process must begin with rethinking about our lives: what we want to achieve, what will make us happy, what is truly meaningful in our lives, and how to build a society where people do not undermine others’ dreams but support them, so that everyone can realize their dreams instead of only a select few, at the expense of everyone else.

I don’t regard the virus as an illness; I regard it as a cure. The healing process must begin with rethinking about our lives: what we want to achieve, what will make us happy, what is truly meaningful in our lives, and how to build a society where people do not undermine others’ dreams but support them, so that everyone can realize their dreams instead of only a select few, at the expense of everyone else.

The fact that the virus is disrupting our previous way of life is nature’s gift to humankind. We were drowning in hubris, and now we’re shown our limits. Nothing is healthier than knowing the truth. If you know the truth, you can start building better from it. But if you don’t know who you are and where you live, everything you do will come out crooked and collapse.

We are witnessing the collapse of our old way of life. The fact that nature is destroying it is proof that it was unsustainable. If we are smart, we will take the hint and not try to go where nature will not let us.

In fact, we are witnessing the collapse of our old way of life. The fact that nature is destroying it is proof that it was unsustainable. If we are smart, we will take the hint and not try to go where nature will not let us.

Governments have already spent trillions of dollars on rescue packages and other relief programs. They can continue doing so and take advantage of the fact that people are quitting their jobs by the millions every month to install countrywide, and even worldwide, programs that re-envision human society. On every level—personal, community, national, and international—we should rethink the structure of our society and our relationships with others.

Science will not defeat the virus. It mutates faster than scientists can develop vaccines or medicines. Even if scientists were able to develop new vaccines every few months, what kind of life is it if you have to get a booster shot against a new variant three times a year?

Worse yet, these viruses are our own making. We are basically walking-talking bags of microbes, and there are so many we don’t know yet until they become pathogenic. If you take the multiple cases of cruise ships whose crews and guests are all fully vaccinated, yet repeatedly suffer from outbreaks, and the (absolutely bizarre) case of the polar research station whose crew is fully vaccinated, checked frequently, quarantined, and located in the North Pole, hundreds of miles from other human beings, yet two thirds of them have suddenly come down with Covid, you will realize that the virus is within us, not outside of us, and this is where we need to find the cure.

Because we want to show everyone that we are the bosses, nature shows us who is the real boss. For this reason, until we bow our heads and get in line with all other elements of creation, nature will continue to forcefully and painfully “explain” to us the truth.

The element within us that is noxious and generates every noxious element in reality is our attitude. Our abusive and exploitative approach to everything and everyone around us makes everyone sick. It warps every level of reality and turns it from benign to malignant.

If you look at every other part of creation, you will not find that any of them is evil, ill-meaning or malevolent. All parts of nature function just as nature has created them. We are the only element that consciously aspires to take more than we need, to deny others what they need, and not in order to sustain ourselves, but for the joy of making others suffer and the feeling of superiority.

Because we want to show everyone that we are the bosses, nature shows us who is the real boss. For this reason, until we bow our heads and get in line with all other elements of creation, nature will continue to forcefully and painfully “explain” to us the truth.

When we stop being abusive, we will not be abused. When we stop wishing harm to others, we will not suffer nature’s harm. If we seek to live calmly and pleasantly with everyone around us, this is exactly the life we will have. This is nature’s lesson to humanity.

"A Good Slap to Calm Us Down" is a brilliant article! So are the rest but this seems to me that it has the answer for all the problems in the world. Is it possible for the truth to be very simple but we are looking for complex solutions? I believe so. The answer is simple - from egoists, we need to become altruists for the world to become good and kind for everyone - but the work is very hard, giving up my "I."

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