THE ILLUSION OF DIVISION
Why Do We Feel Like We're At War Against Each Other?
A Divided People, A Divided Nation
For as long as we can remember, we’ve been told that we live in a deeply polarized nation - one where opposing sides refuse to compromise. A United States that is filled with irreconcilable differences;
- Left vs Right
- Man vs Woman
- Black vs White
- Christian vs Atheist
- Yankees vs Red Sox
We are assaulted daily with headlines, posts, and comments about states seceding, about schools forcing kids to change their gender, about vaccines being dangerous, about American workers being lazy, about Socialists seeking to destroy America, about Fascists staging a takeover, about Libs foaming at the mouth, about Conservatives foaming at the mount, about Wokeism, about Nazis, about DEI, about MemeCoins, about, about, about…
All of it in service of division.
But what if this entire premise is false?
What if we actually agree on way more than we disagree? What if our core values, desires, dreams, and needs are basically the same?
That can’t possibly be true. Just look around; families, friends, neighbors, and co-workers are at war! Right?
If it’s not true, then why does it feel like every time we log-on, tune in, or try to read the paper that our nation is inching closer and closer to another civil war?
If We the People aren’t actually so divided that we’re fighting each other in the streets, that means all these hot takes, blame, sensation, and outrage can’t be authentic. It means an awful lot of it, maybe even most of it, is being manufactured, promoted, and distributed... For Reasons.
But who would purposely create an illusion of division? Who would manufacture and, spread hate, blame, and outrage? Who would intentionally pit Americans against each other?
We turn to social media like Facebook, Reddit, X, TikTok, Instagram, and others to connect with one another. To check on our favorite stuff; sports, video games, gardening, pop-culture, travel, technology, makeup, and everything else under the sun. And the majority of us spend far more time consuming news, advice, research, and other critical types of information on social media than we do reading the paper or watching the evening news.
Inadequate information ecosystems.
Most of the information that most of us take it every single day is not from sources that practice basic news gathering and reporting methodology, and certainly not from sources practicing in depth high quality journalism, let alone sources whose inherent biases we have some preconceived understandings of.
We ingest massive amounts of information daily, more than any other human beings in history, but in smaller and smaller doses which have little to no room for proper context, perspective, or vetting.
We get most of this information from sources who are largely anonymous, have no barrier of entry, and who remove or provide no context.
We get a lot of this information as screenshots, clipped and edited video, 280 characters or less comments, links to outlets that don’t practice basic news gathering & reporting standards, and so on.
Human Nature
Despite the fact that most of us are intelligent and rational enough to KNOW that this should never be considered reliable, we are consuming these things in such high volume and so quickly that our critical thinking skills don’t even have time to kick in.
And even when we do click a link to outlet that provides some basic journalistic integrity, “we don’t have time to read all that!,” so we go back to scrolling. Because the scroll is what we desire. A seemingly endless supply of content for instant engagement.
But How Does This Create Division?
Most of the content that we see has been optimized to be as highly engaging as possible. Often this happens organically when a content creator makes something that is just really entertaining, but… far too often content, posts, comments, and titles are optimized not to inform but to hook you. To bait you to engage.
They are made to be as clickable, shareable, and reaction educing as possible. And we, as humans, can’t help ourselves. We click it, we share it, we engage with it, and we react to it, before our brain can even try to pump the brakes and tell us to wonder about the context or veracity of what we’ve just reacted to.
It can be as innocent as a YouTuber crafting their thumbnails to mimic those of other videos that have received a lot of views. Which is why we see so many videos with giant white and yellow text and influencers with their mouths open.
A Large Percentage of it is NOT Innocent
Far too often it is NOT innocent at all. It is predatory. It is manipulative.
Humans are reactive. So content that incites fast reactions is the most engaging. If you can make someone angry or excited instantly, you have a piece of content that is primed to gather lots of views, likes, shares, and comments.
This is why there is so much content that plays on the things that fuel our rage.
Blame, hate, shock, etc... these things are magnets for visceral, immediate, reactions. And the more intense the reaction, the more engaging the content is.
So What? Who Cares if a Few A-Holes make Mean Tweets, Racists Posts, or Blame Filled Hyper Partisan videos?
Because it's not a few, it's a TON. And they do it because it makes them a TON of money.
Monetization
Level One: Views - The more engaging, the more money. It's as simple as that. YouTube, X, and TikTok pay creators simply for garnering a lot of views.
Level Two: Sponsorships/Brand Deals - When content creators have a consistent audience they can jack up their earnings with sponsors, deals, affiliate marketing, brand amabasysorships, etc...
Level Three: Become a Brand - If a content creator grows and grows eventually they outgrow any single social media platform. They start their own media companies and corporations, they sell their own products, they appear as experts on other's networks, podcasts, and content.
IT'S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE
We have built a world in which there are no barriers of entry, no basic standards and practices and a very accessible rewards system that can be potentially massive.
SO WHO ARE THESE PROFITEERS?
Who would take advantage of Americans’ need for social interaction, desire for information, and enjoyment of funny memes and cute videos, in order to monetize divisive content and generate profits by capitalizing on anger, blame, and confrontation?
The truth is a lot of content is just average people who happen to be good at making TikTok clips, YouTube videos, or reposting in depth reporting on Twitter, BUT...
There and MANY MANY MORE who create intentionally inciteful content; racist memes, sexist videos, snake oil TikToks, and on and on and on who intentionally create division, blame, and outrage specifically to enrich themselves.
And due to the way social media algorithms combine with our own human need to react the most enraging, divisive, hyper partisan, content is boosted and boosted.
And when one succeeds many more follow. And the vicious cycle of toxic, society eroding, profiteer content grows and grows and grows…