Why is there so much hatred and division in this country?

[kentuck]

In my opinion, it has gotten much worse with talk radio and the Internet. We are no longer a nation of ideas - we are a nation of partisan wrangling.

Neither Party represents any great ideas as a way to reach the people. Instead, they portray the other Party as the enemy who must be defeated at all costs. When we score, their side stands up and boos. When they score, we stand up and boo. It's like a sports competition.

In the meantime, our country declines and our way of life deteriorates. Our schools, our jobs, our communities go downhill.

Where does it all end?

[Cleita]

1. Divide and conquer?

Worked for Julius Caesar. Could it work for our would be Caesars?

[FSogol]

2. No, it is because some people discovered that they can make $$$$ off of public discord. n/t

[ancianita]

12. Yes. Under the cover of chaos is big money in stealth fracking, drug trafficking, TPP trade deals.

[woo me with science]

3. Cleita is right. The parties are being used as a tool

by the One Percent who have purchased both of them. Partisan hatred is used to keep us divided and unable to unite against what the corporate One Percent in both parties are doing to us. We are taught to think of every decision in terms of winning for our team or preventing the other team from from winning, rather than what is right or wrong, or good for humanity.

Deep, reflexive partisan hatred and partisan loyalty are constantly stoked and reinforced in us through corporate propaganda dividing us into our teams. It's critical to the One Percent that our emotional loyalties to our Red and Blue Teams (and willingness to circle the wagons and defend *anything* Our Team does, for fear of helping the Other Team) is fierce and reflexive and defensive enough to override our loyalty to the Constitution and the fundamental civil protections that both parties are destroying before our eyes.

This is the game that needs to be exposed and rejected, resoundingly, by all Americans.

The big corporate lie that is told to both sides is that the Other Side is getting everything they want and are responsible for all the problems in government. We are separately propagandized in that way to keep us from realizing that the two parties are actually working together and exploiting all of us.

Corporate Republicans lie to their base and betray it just like corporate Democrats do. Just as corporate Democrats lie and pretend to value traditional Democratic policy goals like social safety nets and public education and protecting the environment, corporate Republicans lie to their base and pretend to value traditional conservative positions like small government and individual liberty.

Then the corporatists in BOTH parties get into office and support everything nobody but the one percent wants: a mammoth, predatory corporate government, a surveillance state, and destruction/corporatization of social safety nets, schools, and the environment.

Nobody is happy with the government we have. Republicans are as angry and unrepresented as we are. NONE of us are being represented. And the corporate thieves control both parties. This is exactly how the one percent keep their predatory agenda going from administration to administration. They can always count on half the country to circle the wagons and defend the indefensible when it is being committed by their/our "team."




__________________________________________

We are supposed to recoil and vomit...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2320291

This insanity, this GARBAGE, this deliberate partisan political PSYCHOSIS has to stop.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=146626

[Cali_Democrat]

9. It's a good thing a member of the Democratic party is in the White House. n/t

[kentuck]

15. +10,000

woo me...

This is good information. You should maybe post it as a stand-alone thread?

Thanks!!

[cilla4progress]

4. I'm really struggling with this right now, too, kentuck.

Personally, politically, professionally.

Worse than for myself, I'm trying to figure out what to say to my idealistic 20 year old daughter.

Any suggestions? I don't want to break her heart and let her know how frankly dismal things seem (clearly our young people already know).

Where can we find some bright lights in all of this? Something to feel optimistic about?

Hate to sound so doom and gloom, but sounds like we are on the same page...

[polichick]

5. The people have to stop being manipulated - both sides...

[randome]

6. We have two cultural species trying to co-exist.

As objective as I can be, I see Progressive ideas winning out. But the old guard will go down kicking and scratching and screaming 'Benghazi!!'
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

[chowder66]

7. lack of....

thoughtful·ness n.
Synonyms: thoughtful, considerate, attentive, solicitous
These adjectives mean having or showing concern for the well-being of others. Although thoughtful and considerate are often used interchangeably, thoughtful implies a tendency to anticipate needs or wishes, whereas considerate stresses sensitivity to another's feelings: a thoughtful friend who brought me soup when I was sick; considerate, quiet neighbors.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/thoughtfulness

It's sorely missing from many

[Uncle Joe]

8. I don't view the Internet and talk radio in the same light.

Talk radio is one way top down, one way propaganda with no or little rebuttal.

The Internet promotes both debate and literacy.

I see the nation as coming together but it's not by any stretch a straight line consisting more of fits and starts.

There are definitely powers that be against this unification of the people but I believe we will ultimately transcend them.

Thanks for the thread, kentuck.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

10. Injustice and the approval or condoning of injustice.

[on point]

11. The pukes are responsible because winning is more important than truth

[haele]

13. It's profitable. And easy to do.

Convince a person you think they're special if they don't think too hard about it, and most will follow the direction you point them in and believe anything you tell them afterwards. Lots of money can be made scamming the rubes, if you flatter them enough.

Haele

[Skip Intro]

14. Anger = movitvated voter.

Which ever side whips up and maintains that anger the best, wins.

We hate them and they hate us, because we've all been manipulated into doing so.