Timeline of the descent into CURRENT YEAR

The biggest seed of division in this country was not that incident, but rather Obama's comments following it. That's the temporal singularity in my lifetime when I can distinctly remember the first time the country ever felt irreparably divided.
The Beer Summit thing at least gave the impression he was trying to be a peacemaker. That wasn't the case by the time of Zimmerman/Martin.
 
Really interesting discussion. One thing I find fascinating is the cultural split after 9-11:

I remember a period of time where it was OK and acceptable to openly make fun of Muslims. Because of what they did everyone seemed on board. I remember watching something on comedy central and it was all like "a-la-la-la dynamite vest" jokes.

Then, suddenly, or maybe not so suddenly, depending where you lived, it was not so OK anymore. Not all Muslims are terrorists, it's bigoted to look down on other cultures, make fun of people's religion (except Christians), make fun of people's accent

What seemed to happen to me was like half the country (what would become the current day Right) was like, Fuck no, these guys attacked us and we reserve the right to mock them. And the Left, more urban/"coastal" population saying, no, that is not in fact OK, "muh religion of peace"

The left became anti-American, pro immigrant because of this - in essence, choosing the foreign enemy over American 'patriots,' and looking down on their conservative countrymen. This resentment built on top of already strained relations.

For a while I thought, if both sides can agree to hate Muslims again. Maybe we'll be OK. But then so much more shit got lumped into it and now I think we're just fucked.

The funny thing to me, is I know for a fact so many of these hardcore pro-immigrant leftists were also.openly mocking Islam in the early years, before it became morally wrong. They won't ever admit it and that makes them dishonest to me, and shows they have at large, reduced capacity for individual choice and will parrot whatever they think is morally superior.
 
Friends, if you pull back a bit and see everything as a bigger picture? You'll notice that there has never been a point lacking in distractions on the world's stage. You constantly have a potential to be immersed in farce after charade after crisis, etc. Now, you could argue that it's coming much more quickly in modernity than recorded history suggests, but it's the same idea dialed up in frequency.

It's all there to keep your attention plastered to things that are not you. I would suggest deeply reflecting on why that might be.
Yeah allow me to answer this shit in song
Happy to see someone beat me to it! A+
 
I think the problem of how to manage people is a question that has no correct answer, and THE problem which has defined our history and civilization. There are some pretty good attempts, and some really bad ones too. I think, a correct answer to that question does not actually exist. We are imperfect beings, there is no perfect system of governance which ensures happiness and stability for all. This is where some tend toward religion and I can see that point and respect it, but I am not a religious person.

I think what we are seeing in the latter day culture wars is an effective means of manipulating vast amounts of people in pursuit of maintaining a system of governance. I think some of it was deliberately introduced (or made into an issue) while other aspects happened organically and are allowed to grow within society.

A thought which comforts me at times is thinking about the prior turn of the century, and how much political upheaval happened around that time. In a pretty short amount of time we had the formation of the USSR, NSDAP, two world wars, the formation of Israel and destability of the Middle East, the cold war and the proliferation of politically motivated proxy wars worldwide. Compared to all that, things aren't so bad now.

The thing that pisses me off the most is media (news and entertainment) which seem to be a hand of propoganda steering the population into various arguments. Some blame the jews, some blame "wealthy capitalists," various political factions, the illuminati ... I think in reality it's probably a situation where there are many different factions involved directly or indirectly with this. But the thing which allows it to continue, is us. The people.
 
You should add Charlottesville to the list. While by itself it isn't (in my opinion, anyway) that significant, it simultaneously destroyed any underground right legitimacy while giving rise to a class of grifters who have not yet been extirpated from the ecosystem. It probably set back the general Right, as opposed to Trump and the MAGA-Republicans, years and only now is it starting to claw - ever so slowly - out of it.
 
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