How Americans Regard One Another Has Changed Drastically

I’d like to shake the hand of the guy who went rogue with the road sign here.  But, while his message is funny, it makes an important point.

Americans from the baby-boom and the earlier generations remember a time when our personal politics meant relatively little in the way we regarded one another.

As an example, 50 years ago, few parents were upset if one of their children proposed to marry someone from the other major political party.  Yet that’s no longer the case.  Today, more than half of Democrats interviewed said they would object if one of their kids wanted to marry a Republican (and vice versa).

What has changed fundamentally?  In particular, how did the MAGA movement come to divide us so completely?

In my mind, it’s largely a function of the fact that what we now call “news” is no longer information; it’s content designed to capture our round-the-clock attention and make us loyal to one club or another.  News is no longer a service; it’s an extremely lucrative business, and the only way to establish and maintain these megaprofits is to have two halves of America, each of which considers the other half “assholes.”