Distribution to the Right and Left in Same-Sex Marriages

It is really interesting to me that there are certain subjects that if you identify with, you are automatically seen as a right-winger or left-winger? Like if someone told me that they believed that climate change is overblown and that it’s just a cycle that the earth goes through, I automatically think they’re a right-winger. Yeah, I almost always think that. Or even gay marriage. If you think that gay people should be allowed to marry whoever they want, you are considered a left-winger.

Do you know what is really interesting? In regards to gay marriage, is that just ten years ago people were much more aligned on the stance of gay marriage. Back in the 1990s, the right and the left both opposed gay marriage. Both of them did not want to go that far. Now half of the country is flipped, in general. You have one political party endorsing it and the other that is trying to stay in the past.

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And just this one opinion can polarize you from others and distance yourself from one side to the other. But you’re right, in that a lot of opinions on particular subjects are just signs of loyalty. This polarization has been actively happening.

How have we seen this happen more recently Well, in the past couple of years, we’ve definitely seen this with Donald Trump. In many ways, a pretty hardcore right-winger, uh, so like, uh, his opinion on Russia. So for years and years prior, Americans, all of America, if you were on the right, you mistrusted and didn’t like Russia and if you were on the left mistrusted them and you didn’t like them too.

This election changed that. Now we have people on the right trusting Russia and liking them even more and people on the left having an absolute distaste for them. Just Donald Trump’s influence has polarized our society on this issue. Even free trade under Donald Trump has been, uh, split between sides.

So what do you make of this splitting? Well, before I used to think it was just different ideologies, but in reality as, uh, Steven Pinker, and I think Amy Chua as well, has said, it is also raw tribalism. In this case, political tribalism. What is political tribalism? Well, in terms of political tribalism, it is tribes made from ideologies. There’s a Yale professor who described it pretty well. I hope I don’t butcher it. It’s an identity-driven tribe, where your identity is so tied to the group that it almost consumes you. It’s a lot, a lot like sports. Our political climate. Can you explain that a little more? Alright, so, like how in sports. The players move through the rosters of the teams. And as Jerry Seinfeld said that Steven Pinker brought up in this interview about this, you are rooting for jerseys. Wait, maybe it was clothing or shirts. Anyways, it is very superficial tribalism built around identity. There’s actually a great book called Political Tribes by that Yale Professor.

Yeah, when you start to think of Republicans and Democrats, in the terms of tribalism, it is pretty crazy. You can really see it. It plays out like sporting events. Why do we act like this? I ask myself the same thing Zack, but we can’t change ourselves being humans. We don’t really care too much about the individuals who are on the team. We care about the team. We as humans, instinctually love to be a part of something, whether that be a sports team or politics. It gives people comfort to be a part of something, to subscribe to even crazy ideas, or to people to fill that belonging. It just so happens that this tribalism in politics is splitting the country apart. That’s what we’re seeing right now. Although it might not be healthy for the country, it definitely is interesting. But why is this becoming more apparent now? Well more recently, groups feel more threatened. And well, when individuals feel threatened, that’s when they start identifying with groups, or in this case political parties. This causes people to become more rigid in their beliefs as the parties begin to split.

Why is this a problem? Well, as soon as people start identifying with them, they start to only see through their own tribal lens, and, uh, today the Republicans and Democrats lens is full of hate for the other. These lenses cause you to ignore facts and just be loyal to your team no matter what and that’s what is preventing us from having discussions and conversations about national issues. So do you think there is anyone to blame for this? You can’t just pick one person or one party to blame. Both sides are responsible for this. No one is blameless. Things like, uh, identity politics on the left have alienated people. And like, um, conspiracy theories on the right are stealing validity from the right. You really should read Political Tribes. Woah. How can we start to solve this? That is a very difficult question. Well, uh, taking yourself out of this mindset and thinking for yourself. We can’t think of ourselves as players on a sports team. We really have to, uh, distance ourselves from these political parties and think individually. Look to ourselves.

So, in this paper, that I am writing, I say that people should be their own leaders. That by being your own leader, you can formulate your own ideas and not be so identifiable with a group and then have discussions on issues with others. That is my solution, I think, to this. I completely agree with you. That’s a good way of putting it. Think yourself, but be thoughtful of others, don’t just agree with someone, because they agree with you on other stuff, and like you said lead yourself in your own ideas.

In the response to my question about the progression of polarization in the United States, Nathan Tausch explains that the political climate progressing to this point started before Donald Trump, and uses the example of gay marriage. According to Tausch, “ten years ago people were much more aligned on the stance of gay marriage. Back in the 1990s, the right and the left both opposed gay marriage. Both of them did not want to go that far. Now half of the country is flipped, in general. You have one political party endorsing it and the other that is trying to stay in the past. And just this one opinion can polarize you from others and distance yourself from one side to the other”, and because of this, just opinion on particular subjects are can be signs of loyalty. People do not have their own ideas on matters. One cannot just have the opinion of one thing, because the opinion of that one thing lobs them into the entire group. Freethinking is not allowed in these tribes, because as Tausch explains, “an identity-driven tribe, where your identity is so tied to the group that it almost consumes you”, and once it consumes you, that is your identity. Everything relates to that group, now has to be associated and agreed with you.