The Myth of A Divided America

We’re more together and agree more than what bigwigs, pundits, and others are telling us. In fact we may be too closely connected for our own good.

As Americans and people pursuing our own version of happiness we’re united in having the liberty to discover our own unique enjoyment of life.  No other nation has facilitated this degree of connection through pursuit of individual liberty.

Yet therein lies the problem: we’re all too closely connected. The myth of a “divided America” obscures our excessive connectedness to one another.

For example as avid consumers of social media, news, and television many of us see, watch, and do exactly the same things.

We watch the same sporting event.

We complain about the same politicians.

And most importantly as a result of this networked behavior we overlook the important ways we can make meaningful contributions in our own backyards.

Meanwhile the number of volunteer firefighters are declining at an unprecedented rate.

State and local newspapers, which used to serve as the public squares of print, are rapidly dying off.

No great works of art -- in painting, literature, or any other medium for that -- are being produced.

In these domains of excellence America is clearly in decline -- and not because we’re too divided.  Rather too many Americans have been connected to the same demeaning mediocrity and inflammatory content on social media and television.

To remedy the situation we could begin by immediately cancelling the intrusively destructive and wasteful aspects of social media and television: namely their invitation to troll, harass, and berate strangers and other people we don’t know.  And maybe we could spend more time away from social media in order to volunteer, serve as a watchdog for our local communities, and create excellent art.

Maybe then we could finally get away from each other long enough to be excellent.

Zigmund Reichenbach holds a M.A. in Philosophy from West Chester University.  You can occasionally find him covering news stories of national interest at Real News or you can follow him on Twitter @zreichenbach1.  To support the creation of articles like these visit the RootsRSNG’s Patreon. 

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