Right versus left.
Believers against atheists.
Republicans versus monarchists.
Deniers versus collaborationists ...
Often we get so fixated on what divides us that we forget what unites us. Blinded by division, we widen the gap. These differences lead, at best, to discussions, but on a social scale they are also the cause of conflicts and wars. They generate pain, suffering, loss, poverty… And that's exactly what we all want to escape from. But it is no coincidence that we are so polarized.
Division strategies
Divide et impera, the Romans said.
In 338 BC Rome defeated its greatest enemy of the time, the Latin League, made up of about 30 villages and tribes trying to block Roman expansion. His strategy was simple: he made the cities fight each other to obtain the favor of Rome and become part of the empire, thus abandoning the League. Cities forgot that they had a common enemy, focused on their differences, and ended up fueling internal conflicts.
The strategy of gaining or maintaining power by "breaking" a social group into smaller pieces means that they have less energy and resources at their disposal. Through this tactic, existing power structures are broken down and people are prevented from joining large groups that can gain more power and autonomy.
Basically, anyone who applies this strategy creates a narrative in which each group blames the other for their own problems. In this way, it fosters mutual distrust and amplifies conflicts, generally to hide inequalities, manipulations or injustices of power groups that are at the top level or want to dominate.
It is common for groups to be "corrupted" in some way, giving them the possibility of accessing certain resources - which can be material or psychological - in order to align themselves with power or fear that the "enemy" group will take away some privileges that in reality keep them submissive.
The ultimate goal of division strategies is to create an imaginary reality by fueling the differences that give rise to mutual distrust, anger and violence. In that fictional reality we forget our priorities and wish to embark on a meaningless crusade, in which we only end up harming each other.
Dichotomous thinking as the basis of division
The advent of Judeo-Christian morality did not improve things, on the contrary. The existence of absolute evil as opposed to absolute good takes us to extremes. That idea polarized our thinking.
In fact, if we are born in Western society, we will have a predominantly dichotomous thought that the school is responsible - conveniently - to consolidate when it teaches us, for example, that throughout history there have always been "very good" heroes who have fought against individuals " very bad ".
That thought is so ingrained in our mind that we assume that anyone who doesn't think like us is wrong or directly our enemy. We are so trained to seek what sets us apart that we neglect what unites us.
In situations of enormous uncertainty such as those that often cause crises, this type of thinking becomes even more polarized. We take more extreme positions that separate us from others as we attempt to protect ourselves from a false enemy.
Once you have fallen into that spiral, it is very difficult to get out of it. A study developed at Columbia University found that exposure to political ideas contrary to ours does not bring us closer to those views, on the contrary, it reinforces our liberal or conservative tendencies. When we see in the other the embodiment of evil, we automatically assume that we are the embodiment of good.
Division does not generate solutions
During the presidential elections in the United States, for example, the Latin vote showed a huge gap. While the Latin Americans in Miami helped the Republicans win Florida, the Latin Americans in Arizona managed to get the state to go to the Democrats for the first time in two decades.
A survey conducted by UnidosUS revealed that although the political orientation of Latin Americans varies, their priorities and concerns are the same. Latin Americans across the country have expressed concern about the economy, health, immigration, education and gun violence.
Despite what we may believe, ideas of division between groups do not usually arise or develop spontaneously in society. The conception, diffusion and possible acceptance are phases in which a powerful machine intervenes, driven both by economic and political power and by the media.
As long as we continue to have dichotomous thinking, that mechanism will continue to work. We will go through a process of deindividuation so as to abandon the consciousness of ourselves to integrate into the group. Self-control disappears and we imitate collective behavior, which replaces individual judgment.
Blinded by that thought, we won't realize that the more divided we are, the less problems we can solve. The more we focus on our differences, the more time we spend discussing them and the less we realize what we can do to improve our lives. The more we blame each other, the less we will notice the threads that manipulate opinion trends and, ultimately, our behaviors.
The English philosopher and mathematician Alfred North Whitehead said: "Civilization advances by expanding the number of operations we can perform without thinking about it ”. And that's true, but from time to time we have to stop and think about what we're doing. Or we run the risk of becoming a puppet in someone's hands.
Sources:
Martínez, C. et. Al. (2020) UnidosUS Releases State Polling of Latino Voters on Priority Issues, Key Traits in a Presidential Candidate and Party Support. In: UnidosUS.
Bail, C. et. Al. (2018) Exposure to opposing views on social media can increase political polarization. PNAS; 115 (37): 9216-9221.
Admission Who divides us? was published first in Corner of Psychology.
