This week's comic: "Polarization" is a reality-obscuring weasel word

@jensorensen I've often felt the same about the word 'divisive'. People who draw attention to a division are so often accused of causing the division.

All it comes down to is people who prefer ignoring problems over solving them. People who, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, "prefer a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice."

@jensorensen
I'm reminded of an ancient Cosma Shalizi quote:
“… our gracious host would really _like_ to be just a little bit to the left of a technocratic center, and to debate those just a little bit to his right about optimal policies within a shared objective function, and pretending that it is a technical and not a political discussion..."

@jensorensen "...But because everything is fucked up and bullshit and because everyone at all on the right has spent forty years (at least) doing their damndest to _make sure_ everything is fucked up and bullshit, even the smallest gesture in that direction is not so much reconciliation as collaboration. And so our host has sads.”

@jensorensen

A world with only one pole ...

@jensorensen in physics, polarization of light means that you can only see a tiny sliver of reality.

Basically, polarisation looks like this https://youtu.be/aiMLJAZajxg

Keep up the great work

@jensorensen How are you, my friend? Could you share my latest post? Sharing is my source of income in Gaza.

@jensorensen just because people use the word improperly doesn't mean the word should be canceled.

For example, a legitimate use: centralized social media polarizes as a byproduct of the incentives of platform owners.

True.

How it's used in the wrong contexts, though, is something that should be called out.

A simple question to ask the claimant is, "How?"

That generally stops them from abusing a useful word in future.

@jensorensen 117% that.

You never fail to deliver, and we love you for that, and more. Keep trucking!

@faraiwe Thank you!

@jensorensen I think this is somehow missing the point. The root of the problem is the first past the post voting system which leaves voters in practical terms with a binary choice between two parties. That is polarisation. That is black or white; right or left; billionaires or poverty - it is not a real reflection of life or politics and the only solution is to adopt proportional representation.
That produces a range of political parties reflecting the range of political views.

@jensorensen I believe that there are inherent rights of people, and that those rights are nonnegotiable. They should be defended at all costs, even with violence if need be.

@jensorensen This is also how I feel when (quite frankly: mostly conservative) people bemoan the "lack of civility" or "death of manners". What they really mean is: can the people who used not to be able to speak out just shut up again so I can enjoy my nice cup of status quo.

Love your comics.

@jensorensen The late civil rights activist Israel Shahak would say "There are encouraging signs of polarization." It is the process of polarization that affects change.

@jensorensen

In fairness… it’s probably what Rupert Murdoch corporations have done for decades.

@jensorensen Spot on!

@jensorensen

Polarization : 2020's :: Class warfare : 1990's

And 60% of America has no fucking clue what any of the above means or how to read it.

@Catriona @jensorensen I ghosted on a 30 year friendship after hearing her say if people just stopped talking about race then people wouldn't get upset about it. A few vodka lemonades later and she thought it was a good time to reveal her very shallow understanding of the world with me. Uncomfortable topics are easier to deal with if they are ignored

@jensorensen It's hard to emphasize enough how much of the "polarization" is indeed just someone saying "those people should be dead" versus someone else saying "I'd rather not be dead."

But what's really sick is how much this country bends over backwards to give air time to the ones who say "those people should be dead." The person who says "I'd rather not be dead" has to word things very carefully to even be heard. The one who wants them dead gets quoted verbatim.

@jensorensen

When one pole is Nazis, I must insist on polarization.

@jensorensen This certainly explains the alarm bells that go off in my head when I hear people say it.