Viewpoint: Are we brainwashed?

I have seen reasonable American citizens, who have families, who work hard, pay their taxes, serve in our military, belong to their PTA etc., become irrational and even crazy at times when it comes to political opinion. And I’ve observed, under the surface, there’s a hatred that’s ready to jump out when it comes to one’s opposing political views. I want to be clear: this is on both sides of the aisle.

I understand that we’ve lived through a shut down due to the pandemic. People’s nerves are frayed, but all in all, I believe the American people are resilient and can handle this. But I can’t dismiss that we’re frazzled a bit. People’s heads aren’t on straight due to the fear and uncertainty of a virus that could and has killed us. This has been horrific for over half a million people in the United States who have a family member who has died because of the virus, not counting the multitudes of people who have been sickened by it. And for the citizens who have struggled economically, we will make it through. In times like these the American people come together and we will persevere.

But this is something different.

I’m retired and have to admit that I’ve watched all the cable news networks during the time of Trump — you know, CNN, MSNBC and Fox News.

My observation is since Trump was elected, there wasn’t a second, a minute, a day that went by for over four years that the man and the Republicans weren’t viciously attacked with vitriol.

On the opposite side of the aisle, all I heard was that the Democrats are this and that. Right back at ya.

Are we brainwashed? And if we are, do we know it? I think we are! I don’t think we know it.

It’s the only way I can figure out why normal, everyday Americans can act the way they’ve been acting.

I have a good friend that I’ve known for over 25 years, who posted on Facebook that all Republicans are racists! And, I’ve had friends say that the Democrats are all socialists! Are the 75 million people, give or take, racists or socialists? I don’t think so.

We’re divided to the point that rational, good, loving people, have chosen to side with their political party, and in so doing they’ve placed their old friends on the other side of the aisle to the point that friendships have been lost and/or relationships soured. They’ve characterized the other side into categories of racist, communist, wackos, enemies of the state … ad nauseum.

I’m not a historian, but it seems perhaps the only time we’ve been divided like this was during the Civil War. Are we that divided?

Now, I’m also not naïve, but I’m glad my three children are raised because I don’t know what parents teach their kids in today’s environment. Should we teach our children “old-fashion” values? After all, they’re going to face a world that has lost its way and if they’re raised naïve and with goodness in their hearts, will they get eaten alive when they grow up and face life as it is? How do you tell your young children to always do the right thing, to love your neighbors, not to speak ill of others, when on the news broadcast our politicians are disrespecting one another on a frequent basis?

Constantly and viscously attacking the other side by our politicians need not be condoned. It shouldn’t be tolerated, on both sides when it’s extreme. And the politicians who have threatened the other with suggestions of violence, stop!

And, yes, politicians who break the law, who violate the constitution and their oath of office should be prosecuted, both sides, no exceptions. There’s a two-tiered justice system in this country and I’m afraid for some reason the political class has immunity.

I firmly believe that no one has the absolute truth. Dangerous are those who think that they do.

Politics has always been divisive as long as we’ve been free. Our government is designed for divisiveness — to forge together good legislation taken from the best of both sides. The alternative is conflict and/or we accept living under a totalitarian regime. As an American, I would choose “… a government for and by the people.”

Our system was founded on debate. Perhaps we should remind ourselves what the definition of debate is: “A formal discussion on a particular topic in a public meeting or legislative assembly, in which opposing arguments are put forward. An argument about a particular subject, especially one in which many people are involved. Consider a possible course of action in one’s mind before reaching a decision. … with respect, with deference, with a common objective of living better lives.”

Opposite opinions lend themselves to strong emotion. I’m aware as a fiction writer that without emotion the human entity would remain nothing but a husk, an inarticulate functionless being without drama. Emotion is life. Emotion causes drama.

People understand one another so imperfectly because we come from so many different perspectives. We live with different emotions. However, when people feel similar emotions simultaneously then, and only then, do we understand one another. The feeling of a believer is incomprehensible to an unbeliever, and to a believer the feeling of an unbeliever is quite as strange.

So how do we see ourselves clear of our brainwashing?

Perhaps, each side should try to get a better understanding of the other side. Watch the other channel. Try to look at it with an open mind and then form an opinion. Or — what I think is better —turn off the news for a while and view America as you see it with your neighbors, friends and community. That’s the real America in which you live. I think you’ll see a different picture than the media portrays.

Perhaps someone should spread the word that the United States of America is still a beautiful country and one that is still the greatest on earth.

Yes, there are problems that face us and need to be solved. But demonizing our fellow citizens because of a narration by a politicized media agenda will only hurt and divide us when we need to come together the most. And we need to come together. Our enemies are watching.

A thought to consider — perhaps our true enemies are orchestrating this divide from the outside … and we don’t even know it. Are we being brainwashed?

Perhaps we’re doing this to ourselves, handing them our own disaccord. They don’t have to do anything to gain the division of our people. That would be stupid, now, wouldn’t it?

Ed Borowsky is a contributing writer to the Heritage and lives in DeLand.