Thoughts on political polarisation

Welcome to Stuck in the Divide by me, Harry Johnston. Astrophyics PhD, working in the Netherlands.

If you are sick and tired of hard leftists and hard right-wingers, maybe you will appreciate some thoughts that I will share. I want to explore, discuss, and debate topics of politics and philosophy with people who are of open mind, and who acknowledge that demagoguery is rarely benign. None of us has the ‘right’ answers, if there are such things.

The best we can hope to do is talk to one another, extending good faith at all times, such that we might converge upon shared humanity. We care about the same things really. We all want a better world for our children. We all want to alleviate suffering in the world. We all want peace and prosperity, clean streets, good schools and hospitals, great spectacles, technological advancement, comfort, laughter, friendship, belonging; the list could go on forever describing what unites us.

Too many want to focus on what divides us. Neither left nor right have a monopoly on good ideas, or good intentions. There is an Exhausted Majority in America at least, and I suspect throughout the West, who want to debate and compromise and work together.

I’ll try not to be too pessimistic, though it is hard these days. For now I’ll focus on compassion, and save the optimism for when I have it.

In the meantime, tell your friends!