On May 1, 1992, Rodney King said, "People, I just want to say, can't we all get along? Can't we all get along?" As I dialog with folks here in 2020, I feel compelled to ask that same question.
We didn't have social media polarizing us back then in 1992. Social Media is just one cause of the great divide in this country. Scott Adams of Dilbert fame likens us today as watching two different movie screens. Our Media is going after a specific audience and tailoring their coverage to that segment. That leads to bias journalism. We are becoming what Simon and Garfunkel proclaimed in their song, The Boxer; "a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest." We have talking heads that preach only to those who have taken the "blue" or "red" pill, in more than just the political context.
So how do you communicate with those on the other side? I mean another side because there if figuratively now no neutral ground. To quote another song, "There's battle lines being drawn." Nobody's right if everybody's wrong."— Buffalo Springfield. We gather in our little tribes and echo chambers and begin to suffer confirmation bias.
Now we sit in a circular firing squad waiting to draw, like the final scene from, "The Good, the bad, and the ugly."
Even polite conversation turns political. Like. How's the weather?" It is affected by human-made climate change, comes the retort, and the fight starts.
Families are being torn apart. Old long time friendships are dissolving. Communities are erupting in fights and hostility between neighbors with warring political signs in their yards.
I grew up in the '60s when this country was very divided. The difference was, I think, focused mainly on the Vietnam War and Civil Rights. Women's issues and abortion followed in the '70s.
We pulled closer together as a country under Reagan and Clinton during their 2nd terms. How ironic is that? Maybe we united after the events of 09/11, but not for long.
Let's look at a case in point. The USA men's hockey teams, "Miracle on Ice" in 1980 and the women's World Cup soccer win in 2019, stands in stark contrast as to how much of a unifying event they were. The Mexico 1968 Olympics protests were focused on race relations and injustice. Forty some years later, the NFL athletes protested racial injustice and by kneeling during the National Anthem. But in the latter event, they lived in a country with a Black president.
Back to Rodney King. If we can't get along, its the end of the American Experiment. Remember Abraham Lincoln, " A house divided, can not stand!" Jesus Christ said, "Blessed are the peacemakers..." but He caused a lot of division as well. That is the root cause of the issue. We will be divided as long as we let our selfish interests and individual preferences take precedence over the biblical command to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Let me leave this off by offering a song.
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