Covid? You think it has affected people’s brains?
It works both ways tho…the wont somebody think of the children brigade have gone up 10 notches also.
The reality is society has deeply widened on many levels. Economically being a big one… lot’s of people working hard and not feeling much in return. While that Gary’s Economics guy over eggs himself, he is spot on in many ways about the transfer of wealth from the poor(er) to the already wealthy in recent years. Economics will always be a driver in division .
One of the biggest issues that has caused the average joe to go down rabbit holes or/and become angry is hands off governance. While the government cant be a catch cry for every single problem in society but the contract we sign is simple - we elect, you (government s) make hard decisions to help people. But what we’ve gotten more and more of is hands off governance… governments not making the hard calls and letting ‘markets’ dictate. Si Harris is a prime example of the type of politician that permeates society today… all flash and no substance.
Why is this a source of divide? While governments aren’t magic weavers and will do wrong as much as right - what they offer as part of the contract is security.
If you look at the actions of the Irish government since 2010… we saved German and very wealthy bond holders and guaranteed them their money to saddle the country with debt. The result saw most services to the most needy in society being destroyed. We then had nama, invited in big funds to destroy our housing and rental market, ran a campaign to find dole cheats because they were the issue. Tried to sell off our water… In general, took a stance that the market will resolve all our problems while our working classes just deteriorated.
When you withdraw this security from people with soft touch politics- people will invariably seek solace elsewhere. In bygone years that might have seen minimal damage but it the social media age with far right telegram groups rife - lambs get abducted and turned into wolves.
That’s not to absolve anyone from personal responsibility, each person needs to look within. But our society has undergone drastic changes in a very short time. A lot of people are struggling to adjust on lot’s of levels… but as always, a lot of the ire is focused on the symptoms - immigration, trans, bottle bank return machines… the truly rotten in society sieze upon the hurt of ordinary person and mobilze them to carry out their own hateful ideology. Invariably, most people are good and want to do good, but in a hurt society good people can be turned to do bad things.
I wrote a long post about the modern world devoid of god and where we find meaning… I’d ask you to reread it. There’s a lot of truth in it ( I’ll let the link at the bottom). narcissism plays a huge part in modern discourse because meaning is intrinsically linked to individuals now and not a shared source (god). And on a psychological level, we know that to admit you were wrong is a kind of psychological death… the narcissistic just digs further and further in.
Where we once had rituals, mythology and then poetry/philosophy to guide us and explain the human condition- we know have 20 second tic tock videos .
With that said, i don’t think everyone questioning issues like immigration or trans issues should be shouted down as headbangers. The left are as guilty as anyone for shouting down discourse and of narcissism.
Thanks for reading.