How We Become Polarized

It is no secret that American politics and society has been becoming more polarized in the last decade or so, and this trend seems to have reached a head around the current administration. Smarter people than me are offering suggestions as to why that is happening, and I won't comment on why, but it is interesting to me how it occurs. I find the current debate over NFL football players kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial inequality in America to be particularly illustrative of this phenomenon.

On the one side, football players, led by Colin Kaepernick, are expressing a principled, peaceful protest of a very real American problem. I don't think most people disagree that police officers killing unarmed African Americans is a deep cultural problem and that Kaepernick and others have every right to peacefully express their opposition to it and to how these events are handled. Their chosen method for doing so, however, is to sit or kneel during the national anthem, and this method of protest has stoked a deep, virulent resentment in many Americans.

On the other side, you have patriotic Americans who identify strongly with nationalist sentiment and view the flag, and people's public display of respect for it, as civil activities in which every American should engage. They view respect for the flag as honoring veterans and their service and as an expression of national solidarity.  This is a tradition with deep roots in American culture and deviation from these norms causes not only discomfort but anger.

These two sides, which divide rather evenly along political lines (for the most part), are completely missing each other's messages and talking past each other. And this is how polarization happens: it occurs when we fail to fully consider each others' points of view and what we mean by our expressions. It occurs when we latch on to a pithy and compelling narrative that represents only our own views, without considering the importance of others' views. It occurs when we refuse to view a situation as nuanced and difficult when that is exactly what it is. It occurs when we fail to honor one another, and to show basic respect for each other as fellow human beings. It is, fundamentally, an issue of respect.