Divided Nation: How Did We Get Here?

I walked into the food court one rainy afternoon this week, and when I sat down I looked up at the TVs to see what was on. On the left TV, was Fox News criticizing that Kamala Harris had changed her accent at one of her rallies; on the right TV, was CNN reporting on the recent tragic school shooting in Atlanta, Georgia. Fox News made no mention of the shooting. 

We find ourselves in a historic time of division and open political hostility. Americans today live in two different worlds depending on the source of news they follow or the candidate they favor, and these two worlds are struggling to coexist together. The media today seems to only care about garnering more clicks and attention. Often, this means creating the most eye-popping headlines, sometimes pitting both sides against each other. 

Democrat or Republican, it is difficult for any side to see past their nose. The Pew Research Center, in 2020, found that 90% of both Republicans and Democrats believed that the other candidate would harm the country if elected. Let that percentage sink in for a minute. Almost unanimously, both sides believe that the other is a danger. If both sides have already resigned to the idea that the other is a threat, how can there be any compromise?

Because of this deep divide, people are split along battle lines for every decision and candidate. Our two-party system naturally creates an “us versus them” mentality among voters. One party’s loss is the other’s gain. The system lights and encourages the fire, the media fans the flame and the people are stuck without water. 

I live in a more rural part of Louisiana, and I can attest that a majority of people here listen to Fox News or wholeheartedly support Donald Trump and will not hear anything else about it. Contrast that with the students on campus, who either only receive news on their for-you-page or find news sources online. However, even online sources and news popping up on your page have their own host of issues. 

Misinformation, now more so than at any other time in history, is detrimental to political discourse with the advent of artificial intelligence-generated images, sounds and text. Anyone with an internet connection can create a convincing lie. 

When Trump was convicted of fraud, hundreds of AI-generated images spread online of the former president being arrested and tackled by police. However, they were convincing and fooled many. The rate of those advancements to make better and better lies is getting faster and faster. How can we, as Americans, trust each other when we are being force-fed constant lies about the other side?

This is not an issue that suddenly sprung up either; it has been festering like mold over the past few decades. Nick Bryant with BBC wrote in 2017 about Obama’s legacy on racial relations. He explains that while Obama’s election was a historic win for the African-American race, America’s complex past with racism was not washed away but only dusted to reveal more dirt. 

Bryant comments on how the first black president was followed by an “untitled leader of the Birther movement, a candidate slow to disavow support from the Ku Klux Klan and happy to receive the backing of white nationalists…”

During Obama’s presidency, there were numerous issues across the aisle on his ability to serve as president. There were even questions about whether Obama was born in America (he was born in Hawaii). The same thing happened when Trump was elected, but only worse. From 2016 to 2020, it felt like watching reruns of dramatic reality TV when anything political was mentioned.

Recent events have showcased that politics today are no less a mess today than they were yesterday. We have a candidate who has been shot and a president who cannot stay past 8 p.m.: America is tired of this political clown house.

Now, we find ourselves at the precipice of yet another historic election. Is America ready to see a progressive candidate to lead America to a brighter future? Or will we choose to lag and stay in the mud? 

We are at a moment where we can show the world who we are and what we truly value. We have the opportunity to bring hope and optimism into our future, an opportunity to reject misinformation and to at least try to understand each other better. What we do now is exactly what we bring into our future.