The Personal Website of Mark W. Dawson

Divisiveness in America

Many pundits decry the divisiveness in our country. And while there is much divisiveness it is not for the reasons that most pundits claim. The main reason is that Liberals/progressives/leftists too often characterize Conservatives and Trump supporters in many different ways that are divisive. Rather than labeling them by the policy positions, the Liberals/progressives/leftists often use personal pejoratives to describe their opponents, and they often say it with disdain. The pejoratives that they call Conservatives and Trump supporters are many, and include, but are not limited to:

Antifeminists or Misogynists Bible Toting Bigots Deplorables Divisiveness Extreme Right Fascists Flyover Country Gun – Clinging, Lugging, Nuts, Toting

Homophobic Idiots Ignorant Intolerant Irredeemable Islamophobic Militarism Moneygrubbing Morons Nazis Patriarchy

Privileged Pro-Deathers Racist Rednecks Right-Wingers Selfish Sexist Stupid White Nationalists Xenophobic

While this name-calling sometimes occurs on the right it is not that frequent (but growing and it should stop), as the Conservatives generally label opponents by policy positions rather than personal pejoratives. However, liberals/progressives/leftists often utilize personal pejoratives to characterize their opponents This name-calling is divisive and allows for the verbal abuse of their opponents. And this verbal abuses against Trump supporters have started becoming physical assaults and economic retaliation. While there are some Trump supports (a small minority) that fit into these categories, most Trump supports are good people that want to do what they see as best for America. Calling them names is not the way to convince them that they may be wrong and to change their minds, but only divides the country.

The use of pejoratives should only be utilized against people who have committed crimes, are immoral, or behaved in an unethical manner, not to people with whom you may disagree. And pejoratives should only be utilized in limited circumstances. They should never be utilized in political or social policy debates and discussions as this only leads to divisiveness. To do so otherwise demonstrates a lack of character or intelligence on the part of the people that utilize pejoratives.

Meanwhile, liberals/progressives/leftists present themselves as Smug, Self-righteous, Morally Superior, and Highly Intelligent people, which divides the country into “good us” versus “bad them”. They themselves are also divisive by grouping people into victimhood classes such as:

Asians Blacks College Educated Feminists Hispanics Immigrants – Documented and Undocumented Islamists Jewish

LBGT… Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transsexual, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, Ally, Pansexual Poor Pro-Choicers Seniors Youth

If you have a grievance against America there is a group that the liberals/progressives/leftists can utilize to categorize you. They then pit these groups against other Americans, dividing the country, hoping to win elections by dividing and conquering. They often utilize "Intersectionality" as a means to further sub-divide the groups. They then encourage these groups and sub-groups to protest to highlight their grievances. Sometimes these protests become violent, and are not discouraged by the liberals/progressives/leftists not vigorously condemning violent protests. They then claim that these protests show how divisive the county is, all the while claiming their opponents are the cause of this divisiveness. But these protests are more like the disruptive child in a supermarket or store who has a temper tantrum in order to get what they want. It is not a sign of divisiveness within the country but a sign of immaturity or narcissism of these protestors.

There are many positional and policy disagreements within Conservatives and Trump supporters, but little or no deviance of position or policy is allowed within the liberals/progressives/leftists groups. This demonstrates a lack of independent thought within and between these groups, and a discipline of conformity and rigidity. Conformity and rigidity that makes it impossible to reach compromise and consensus with others that are not liberals/progressives/leftists. With liberals/progressives/leftists you are either for them or you oppose them, which not only makes their opponents wrong but it also means that they are evil as I have discussed in my Chirp “04/01/19 The Creed of Progressives and Leftists”. This leads to Fear and Intimidation as I have discussed in another Chip “07/07/19 Fear and Intimidation in the USA”. They do this by utilizing the technique, discussed in another Article "The Three D's (Demonize, Denigrate, Disparage) of Modern Political Debate".

Therefore, the liberals/progressives/leftists utilizing personal pejoratives, grouping, sub-grouping, conformity, and rigidity are what really divides America. If you want to end this divisiveness all sides should not utilize the above-referenced activities, and instead practice what I have said in my Article “A Civil Society”.