The Great Divide
How late night talk shows are tearing our country apart
In Orson Scott Card’s novel Empire, Card explores how the partisan politics of the United States started a second civil war. Rather than the North versus the South, this war was one between the left and right, Democrats and Republicans. Anger, divisive rhetoric, and hatred all mixed together stand to divide our country like never before. While Card’s novel represented a hyperbolic premonition rather than a prescient prediction about the future of the United States, it isn’t hard to believe that Card’s fantasy is slowly becoming America’s political reality.
Unlike Card’s war, our conflict is not truly one of violence, but rather one of conflicting ideologies and bipartisan disconnect. Democrats are angry. Republicans are angry. The country is angry. Angry at a political system controlled by corporations and special interests which does not represent them. But rather than trying to change the system, Republicans and Democrats have been trying to fight each other. This same fury has been stoked by late night talk shows, fiery op-eds, and partisan news networks. Prominent media figures such as Tomi Lahren, Samantha Bee, Trevor Noah, and Bill O’Reilly represent some of the most partisan political commentary in the United States. They have presented news and current events oversaturated with partisanship. They are shaping and re-wiring how their viewers think and ultimately pitting those with different political views against one another.
Our political system has once again devolved into an us-versus-them, Democrats-against-Republicans mentality. In a recent Pew research center poll, 47% of Republicans said Democrats were more immoral, 46% said Democrats were lazier, and 45% said Democrats were more dishonest than other Americans. However, the results were equally striking on the Democratic side, the traditionally more “tolerant” side of the spectrum, where they said 42% Republicans were more dishonest, 35% were more immoral, and 33% were more unintelligent than other Americans. Because someone thinks differently, we tend to think they are ignorant, lazy, or stupid.
These sentiments are only furthered by a divisive media, one that focuses more on the splits between us than the unity we can achieve. Talk show hosts such as Tomi Lahren and Samantha Bee only help to solidify the divide between those with different ideological beliefs. In Tomi Lahren’s most recent video “So your friend is voting for Hillary Clinton,” she refers to those who agree with Hillary Clinton’s policies “well-meaning morons.” Unfortunately for her viewers, they never find out her justification for this claim; she simply says Clinton supporters are well-meaning morons, and then moves on. Over 2.2 million people have watched that video of her insulting and berating the millions of Americans who support Clinton’s ideas. She is promoting a mentality of “I am right and everyone who does not think the way I do is an idiot,” based on zero facts and zero evidence.
When Tomi Lahren attacked Colin Kaepernick for refusing to stand during the national anthem, she called him a “whiny, indulgent, attention seeking crybaby” adding that he “sucked,” simply because he exercised his right up for what he believed in. Every time I hear her speak, hatred radiates through my headphones and anger and frustration leap at me from the screen. Frankly, it terrifies me. It terrifies me that someone who reaches millions of people is spreading that same kind of anger and hatred, steamrolling over the opposing views of others and teaching her viewers to do the same without even the credence of an argument. While Tomi Lahren is certainly not the sole cause why 55% of Republicans view the Democratic Party very unfavorably, she is an embodiment of the type of rhetoric that dominates both sides of the media today — divisive and hateful.
However, conservatives and Tomi Lahren are certainly not the only faction helping divide Americans. After all, it takes two to tango. Samantha Bee, a late night show host on TBS, attacks from the other side of the spectrum, using the same kind of hateful language to describe Trump that Tomi Lahren uses to describe Hillary Clinton. To Samantha Bee, Trump is a “mobbed up narcissistic serial con-artist who does not have the intelligence to read a fortune cookie, much less an intelligence briefing.” Again, regardless of you believe about Trump, this is a claim made with consideration of evidence that claims otherwise. Nevertheless, it is presented as the truth. While I understand that Samantha Bee is a comedian and not necessarily a journalist, she has been a part of the new age of “comedy news” pundits ever since her start on The Daily Show. She still reaches millions of Americans, and her ideas and beliefs are shaping our dialogue.
Samantha Bee and Tomi Lahren are two sides of the same coin; they just preach from different partisan pulpits. Instead of asking why Trump supporters are angry and frustrated, Samantha Bee has simply ridiculed them. The same idea — that Trump supporters are awful, horrible, racist people — is presented across the liberal media. Even though some Trump supporters are racist, homophobic, or sexist, that does not mean that the entire group of them, almost 50% of our nation, deserves to be laughed at and shunned by those who disagree. Trevor Noah, Samantha Bee, and John Oliver, all prominent late night talk show hosts, have labeled Trump supporters as moronic, disregarding a mountain of circumstances that leads every person to supporting a particular political candidate. Rather than discussing the destruction of the manufacturing industry that is putting thousands of Americans out of work, a political system ruled by corporations, or legitimate security concerns about refugees and terrorism, liberal hosts have simply blown past them or phrased their responses in such a way that downplays the concerns of frightened citizens, making those same people feel inferior simply for thinking differently.
During Tomi Lahren’s video about Colin Kaepernick, she declared that if he hated America so much, he should simply leave. The implication is clear: Lahren promotes the idea that people who oppose her are irrelevant and do not belong in her country, without even analyzing the nuances of the discussion. This messaging is spreading across social media; when Trevor Noah, the host of the Daily Show, posted a counter video to Tomi Lahren, the top comment was “Trevor Noah’s comments don’t matter. I love how people from other countries feel they have a say about our political system. He’s garbage.” While one comment on one video does not indicate a shift in our national dialogue, the same sentiment in Tomi Lahren’s video has resonated across her Facebook page and apparent across social media, influencing the dialogue in what can only be described as a negative fashion.
Rather than legitimately debating people with whom we disagree, Americans have resorted to same kind of rhetoric that Tomi Lahren and Samantha Bee use: insulting, degrading, and rude. It is an approach which resorts to personal attacks rather than confronting the substance of the opposing argument. The top comment on Lahren’s video “I see #VeteransforKaepernick is trending. Let me address it” was “this entitled brat is just a pretty face for the intolerant.” On her video attacking Colin Kaepernick, the top comment, with over 22,000 likes was, “she just a future pornstar race-baiter!!!! Stfu.” Liberals, who have preached tolerance, love, and acceptance, have not discussed the merits of Lahren’s arguments, but have opted to insult her based on her appearance instead. On almost every single one of Lahren’s last ten Final Thoughts segments, there is a comment with thousands of likes calling her something along the lines of unintelligent eye candy. This is not a problem only with liberals, or only with conservatives; it is a problem with our country. When 45% percent of Republicans and 41% of Democrats view the other as a threat to our national well being, partisanship has grown from a simple problem to an epidemic.
Still, we cannot say that it’s solely the fault of talk shows for partisan divide in this country. A host of other issues, such as gerrymandered districts, have contributed to the polarization of our nation, and many times, the new streams of media have raised awareness of corrupt practices and improved our world. However, the dark side of this reality is that late night media is helping to fuel a dangerous cycle. People feel divided and so partisan commentary resonates with them, creating a negative loop in which the more irresponsible factions are rewarded with ever increasing popularity.
Rather than looking for common ground on divisive issues, Americans remain so angry at each other that we cannot even come to the negotiation table. Over 80% of Republicans and 60% of Democrats agree on creating term limits for Congressmen, yet neither side is pushing Congress to pass a constitutional amendment. A shocking 83% of Democrats and 80% of Republicans disagree with the Citizens United Supreme Court decision yet nothing is being done about it in Congress. While Congress does take some responsibility for inaction, the true burden falls on the voters. We have spent the last few weeks debating over a football player choosing not to stand for the national anthem rather than reforming the legalized corruption that is causing him to kneel in the first place. We have spent the last few months arguing over which one of our presidential candidates is more corrupt, rather than talking about the system legitimizing their alleged corruption. We have allowed the government to collect untold amounts of personal information on all of us for years, and even though 74% of Americans believe that our privacy and freedom are worth more than our security, we allow the practice to continue.
We are so busy fighting each other, so busy calling names, and so busy trying to drown each other out that we have forgotten to listen to what the other side is actually saying. We have forgotten to have discussions and discourse rather than denial and ridicule. If we continue down this path, hating each other for our differences rather than what we share, neither side will win and our country will lose.
The scariest part of all of this is that I feel myself being sucked into it. I know I have called Trump supporters idiots or dumb on my Facebook page and laughed at people who have disagreed with me. However, I know I have to change, and I know this country has to change. We all have a piece of Tomi Lahren and Samantha Bee in us. We are passionate, articulate, and steadfast in our beliefs. We speak loudly, proudly, and passionately about the issues we care about. We as a nation are never afraid to talk about the controversial choices our country has to make. However, we must realize that it is not about speaking loudly, but rather respectfully. It is about learning both sides of every argument and never ignoring the people you disagree with. It is about finding common ground and making compromises. This is what we need to do as a nation to heal our divisions and move forward.
