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

@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.

@jensorensen

Funny how the accommodation in committee is always achieved in one direction

@jensorensen fascism relies on people submitting before they're even asked to

@OvertonDoors @jensorensen I was going to say I wouldn't be surprised if this cartoon goes straight over the heads of 60% of Americans.

@jensorensen
How about people murdering healthcare CEO-s?

@Catriona

Yeah, absolutely this.

I get very annoyed by senior leadership types who use "divisive" to mean "disagreeing with me", ignoring their own instances of genuinely divisive behaviour.

@jensorensen completely disagree. Used polarisation precisely because it’s extremism becoming evident at both ends of the spectrum and mastodons might like to think on that.

@jensorensen @kupac A clear self-defense case.

@jensorensen Question for our hard of hearing comrades: does capitalized alt text sound as yelling in your applications ?