JuanP wrote:Ibon wrote:JuanP wrote: The world is nowhere near as polite as it used to be,
Careful..... The USA is nowhere near as polite as it used to be. Panama folks are not split and are still kind. Y los uruguayos seguro no estan dejando esta mierda infectar su cultura?
Things in Uruguay are not as bad in this respect yet, but they've been getting worse for decades. I think the trend is global, and not exclusive to the US. People in Panama are probably less nice than they were decades ago, too. But, it could take you one or two decades of living there to see the trend. So, places like Uruguay or Panama may be more civil or polite, but that is relative. I do think the worsening trend is global.
To play devils advocate a bit we have been conditioned to the US being the trend setter on cultural trends globally. Although I acknowledge what you are suggesting that loss of civility is trending downward globally I would also like to suggest that there has been a decoupling of the US being the primary trend setter culturally since quite a while.
The recent polarization and cultural civil war type split in American culture is not a global trend. It is very specific to the USA and the loss of civility and the way Americans feel almost wounded in their sensitivity vis a vis their opponents is unique to America at this moment in time.
Take a moment and go back to the 80's and 90's when the USA was stable culturally and recall how we all viewed the civil war like srife happening in countries like Colombia, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Croatia, Peru, Uganda. We watched from a relative peaceful place as these countries imploded with civil war. That is pretty much how I see the USA at the moment from a Panamanian perspective. Things here are peaceful, not split, the culture is relatively united. And things up in the north in the USA take on the same irrational hatreds, heat, binary split civil war like polarity that resembles a lot the conflicts that happened in the countries mentioned above.
Many of you can recall how we looked upon those countries back then with a naive sense that something like that could never happen in the USA. Alas, it crept up slowly and stealthy when we were least aware and there we have it, we are now at the cusp of going through the same dynamic as we witnessed in those countries.
Of course each of these countries mentioned above had their own unique irrational reasons for their respective splits, religious in the case of Northern Ireland, conservative vs liberal vs narco in the case of colombia, the ethnic split after Yugoslavia fell apart in bosnia and croatia, etc. etc. What they all share in common though is the irrational heat and hatreds and solidification into symbolic tribal positions.
Many of the posters here on po.com demonstrate their rigid alliance with one tribal side or the other and represent a microcosm of the society at large. Some try to stand outside of the split but increasingly those that do this are increasingly isolated.
I am deeply grateful to not be in the USA right now and I want no part in being drawn into the ugly cultural tribalism with all the lack of civility.
I might be over reacting. I have also been suggesting we may be approaching the peak of discord and that the collective will start drawing on a desire toward unity. I was suggesting this might happen once the current clown cartoon demagogue in the white house is gone. But I am not so sure, it seems that the counrty is still hell bent on carrying this cultural divisiveness into more violent territory. Again, just look at any of those countries mentioned above for examples of how bad this might get.
Exceptional America is not immune to this.