With trusted, wise, respectful voices in seemingly rare supply, who we listen to matters. With massive amounts of media sharing misinformation and amplifying hosts who encourage rage and\/or fear \u2014 because rage and fear maximize response and minimize critical thinking \u2014 when you find a source you actually can trust, what a refreshing find indeed. One such voice the Intramuralist trusts is David French. He\u2019s fair, logical, and respects all people. His weekend column was excellent. Sobering. And worth sharing. It\u2019s entitled \u201cA Whiff of Civil War in the Air: Malice and misinformation are driving national division.\u201d An excerpt from French\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cOn Thursday the University of Virginia released polling<\/em>results that should shock exactly no one who closely follows American politics and culture. A <\/em>majority<\/em><\/strong> of Trump voters (52%) and a strong minority of Biden voters (41%) strongly or somewhat agree that it\u2019s \u2018time to split the country.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Why would they even contemplate taking such a drastic step? Well, the poll provides the answers, and they\u2019re not surprising. Competing partisans loathe each other and view the opposition as an existential threat. This also isn\u2019t new. It\u2019s been tracked in poll after poll for year after year. This one found that a \u2018strong majority\u2019 of Trump supporters falsely believe there is no real difference between Democrats and socialists. A majority of Biden voters falsely see no real difference between Republicans and fascists. What this poll tracked better than many others is that the mutual loathing is based more on emotion than policy\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve seen it time and again. The combination of malice and misinformation is driving American polarization to a fever pitch. While there are real differences between the political parties, a fundamental reality of American politics is that voters hate or fear the opposing side in part because they have <\/em>mistaken<\/em><\/strong> beliefs about their opponents. They think the divide is greater than it is.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, other polls have found that Americans \u2018substantially exaggerate the extent to which members of the other party dehumanize, dislike, and disagree with them.\u2019 In addition, \u2018Democrats and Republicans imagine almost twice as many of their political opponents as reality hold views they consider \u2018extreme.\u2019\u2019 Moreover, this \u2018perception gap\u2019 gets <\/em>worse<\/em><\/strong> with increased education and media consumption. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n