Divided We Fall

Societies are most vulnerable when disparate groups within them are fighting with each other. I do not mean ‘fight’ as in healthy debate and legislative maneuvering, but ‘fight’ as in confrontations in the street, hatred online and the kind of callout culture that has people not wanting to say anything, opting instead to just carry unspoken and, many times, unexamined views in private. This kind of friction may very well be necessary at this juncture, but you can only imagine that the Russians, et al, are delighted at their prospects of fomenting more divisions in advance of the November election. We should give our friends and neighbors the benefit of the doubt when they express controversial views, and we should fact check every news story before we get outraged by the media.