Commentary
Study Finds 'United' States Among Most Divided Nations, Cites Politics
- by Joe Mandese @mp_joemandese, May 2, 2018
Political affiliation, more than wealth, religion, ethnicity, gender or any other attribute, is the No. 1 factor dividing society, according to a multinational survey conducted by Ipsos MORI for the BBC.
The study, “A World Divided,” found differences in political views are perceived as being the greatest cause of tension between people by a wide margin (44% vs. the next closest factor, wealth’s 36%).
That’s the global average among more than 19,00 adults surveyed in 27 countries, but in the U.S. the divisive nature of politics was cited as the No. factor by a majority of respondents (53%).
In fact, citizens of the “United” States perceive they are more divided now than they were 10 years ago, ranking as eighth among respondents of the 27 nations.
advertisement
advertisement
Joe Mandese is the Editor in Chief of MediaPost. You can reach Joe at joe@mediapost.com.
There's nothing even remotely surprising about these findings.
The United States has been über-divided politically going back to the election of 2000, which gave plenty of red meat for people to sink their teeth into, chew on, fight over -- pick your description.
And with much more fodder to go around -- on all sides -- it's been a veritable feeding frenzy ever since. As for the likelihood of a change happening ... don't hold your breath.
Quite right, Phillip. However, we were very divided before 2000 as well. For example, "we" fought a bloody civil war over slavery in the 1860s, we were very divided during the Great Recession in the 1930s with the labor unions contending with the big manufacturers, the "reds" with the conservatives, etc. And let's not forget the anti-communist fobia which brough us Senator McCarthy in the early1950s. Last, but not least, there was the civil rights and anti-VietNam War conflagration in the 1960s--including violent anti-establishment actions by terrorists and the inevitable conservative backlash.
The main difference between now and then was the role of the media. There was no "social media' creating instant "news" as well as slander, accusations, etc. on a minute by minute basis. And the news media of past earas basically worked as a calming influence, more often than not siding with authority, hiding scandals when "important people"---like presidents-- were involved, etc. Not so today where we have Twitter's daily---sometimes hourly---Trump tweets which are eagerly picked up by the 24/7 cable "news" channels who in two primary cases---MSNBC and Fox---are ardent advocates of the opposing forces. What's stirring things up today---and keeping us boiling? It's the media, in my opinion.
Houses can be burning and people won't admit they are wrong about there is no fire especially when the media are stoking it as EP says.