Every time I open social media, I see another post designed to piss me off. Another hot take engineered for maximum outrage. Another headline crafted to make me hate my neighbor.
There's no room for conversation anymore. Everything is a battle cry. Everything is us vs them. And I'm fucking tired of it.
The Manufactured Divide
This isn't organic. This isn't how Americans naturally interact. We've been manipulated into believing that the person across the street with a different yard sign is our enemy.
Before the internet, we could disagree about politics at Thanksgiving and still pass the mashed potatoes. Now, there are Facebook groups dedicated to not having dinner with family members who vote differently.
What happened to us?
The Accountability Gap
Here's what kills me: we hold regular people to impossible standards while letting the powerful skate by.
Some celebrity says something stupid ten years ago and their career is over. But politicians lie to our faces every single day and nothing happens. They go on TV, make promises they never intend to keep, and we just... accept it?
We've got our priorities backwards.
We the People Need to Wake Up
We the people need to realize how badly we have been manipulated to hate each other.
The algorithms show you the worst examples of "the other side" because anger keeps you scrolling. Foreign governments amplify our divisions because a weak America benefits them. Media companies profit from our outrage because controversy sells ads.
And we keep falling for it. Every. Single. Time.
A Call for Something Better
I'm not saying we have to agree on everything. Hell, disagreement is healthy. It's how we find better solutions.
But we've lost the ability to disagree like adults. We've lost the ability to see the human being behind the political opinion. We've lost the understanding that someone can have different values and still be a good person.
We used to be a country where different ideals all met to create a better union. What happened to that?
The Bottom Line
I'm working on a series about misinformation—how Russian troll farms and Chinese cognitive warfare operations are actively working to tear us apart. Because that's what this is: an attack on America from within and without.
But here's the thing: they can only divide us if we let them.
So maybe, just maybe, before you share that outrage-bait post, ask yourself: Who benefits from my anger right now?
If the answer isn't "America," maybe don't hit that share button.
What do you think? Am I off base here? Do you see a path forward? Share your thoughts—even if you disagree. Especially if you disagree. That's how we start having real conversations again.
