Polarization: How Anti-Normalization is Destroying Our Politics
In the past week, we’ve heard pastors declare political parties the “true enemies of America,” political advisers call for opposing candidate to be “shot for treason,” and a speaker refer to an opponent as “Lucifer.” And that’s only after one convention, with another to go!
This type of rhetoric sows division, anger and fear for political gain. It’s a “divide and conquer” strategy. And we on the Left suffer from the same problem, too.
Over the course of the last week, I’ve heard people say, “I’ve un-friended this person because I can’t stand how conservative she is,” and “My parents are Trump supporters; we decided not to speak until after November unless it’s an emergency.” Maybe it’s not the best idea to cut people off.
Here in San Francisco, the mere fact that I work at a Jewish organization and have had a positive association with Israel has resulted in otherwise-polite company suddenly telling me that I’m a right-wing fascist colonialist oppressor. It didn’t matter that I’m a lifelong supporter of a two-state solution between Palestine and Israel. It didn’t matter that I co-founded a student group in college dedicated towards advocacy that recognizes the legitimacy of the national aspirations of both peoples. It didn’t matter that my views are rooted in justice and pragmatism.
I was shut out and shut down.
Progressive politics wasn’t always like this. It used to be the “liberal” thing to sing “kumbaya” and get to know one another. The “hippie dippie” way was to engage in dialogue. Now, the Left takes the exact opposite approach and is no less militant than the Right. This is dangerous and it hurts every cause we care about.
When I look to my own experience, I recall how many of the most important people in my life, from family members to teachers to friends, had never thought about LGBT issues until I came out as a gay man. These people became allies, and their story is like millions of other Americans who changed with the times as many more of us came out. Today I fear that they would have been deemed bigoted and kept at arm’s length for their ignorance. But isn’t the whole point to change hearts and minds?
No one relishes the idea of meeting a politician who has taken antagonistic positions — on any issue. It’s human nature. But having actually done it, I realize how important it is. Just by showing up, we start to humanize ourselves. Elected leaders frequently take positions out of sheer ignorance or by the fact that they’ve only heard from the opposing side. If they don’t hear from us, then our side will not succeed, no matter who morally right we may be.
Trust me, I get how painful it is to face realities that are so different from the worlds we strive to live in. Sometimes minor differences over ideology, policy, or strategy feel even more pronounced when coming from people who we perceive to be “on our side,” causing many of us to block potential partnerships at times when we need each other the most. And the levels of privilege that impact our individual abilities to “turn off” or “walk away” from particular issues make it even harder. But if we seek to build the lasting coalitions that help us improve our collective lives, we can’t give the opposition the benefit of our silence and absence.
This is why I greatly struggled with the decision by the Black Lives Matter to drop out of the SF Pride Parade due to increased police presence post-Orlando. On the one hand, I empathize with the unfathomable frustration of knowing that law enforcement systemically discriminates against people of color. On the other hand, skipping the parade was a missed opportunity to make visible LGBT people of color who are not only physically oppressed by law enforcement but often left out of the conversation about reform.
There are so many issues progressives care about: racial justice, LGBT equality, economic justice, gun violence prevention, reproductive health, immigration reform, access to quality healthcare, and so much more. But on more than one occasion, we have stopped engaging with people because we are unwilling to budge an inch while we’re asking them to move a mile. And sometimes we not only stop talking, we even resort to rhetoric aimed at silencing anyone who disagrees with our particular position, opponents and potential allies alike.
For example, advocates for increasing housing development in San Francisco are frequently slammed at Planning Commission hearings as committing “ethnic cleansing” by activists on the other side. While there remains robust debate and disagreement as to how we can possibly get ourselves out of our epic housing crisis, resorting to words of war and violence instead of striving to find the right kinds of compromises gets in the way of progress.
Yes, we have to fight for our convictions. But the increased failure to humanize the other, whether they are our opposition or unengaged bystanders, only deepens our alienation from one another and blocks us from ever reaching our aspirations.
Just because we disagree over something doesn’t always mean that we have to view each other as sub-human.
We are in a crisis of anti-normalization and heightened red lines and it’s hurting us. It’s preventing us from building broad enough coalitions to achieve our goals and it’s empowering extremists who do not see our nation as a collective, but rather spoils to be divided and conquered.
