By: Henrique Vieira Soares
The current political climate is extremely polarised. Democrats vs. Republicans; left vs. right; us vs. them. Moreover, the past presidential elections in Brazil and the United States are good examples of this polarisation, since both countries were (and still are) divided.
When it comes to Brazil, things still are pretty tense, and walking on eggshells is necessary even when discussing simple things. During the tense 2022 presidential election, there were reports of homicides motivated by divergent political opinions. Undoubtedly, one of the main factors that caused this scenario of absurdity and madness was the repeated hatred claims made by former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who was seeking reelection at the time and turned his campaign into an ideological fight of good vs. evil.
"These kinds of people [leftist politicians] should be 'removed' from public life".
- Jair Bolsonaro, former president of Brazil
In the United States, polarisation has intensified over time. The graph below shows the evolution of Democrats and Republicans ideologically and how these two groups got even more apart.
I should admit, I have a problem with the two-party political system in the USA. I wonder how effective this system is and to what extent it represents democracy? Democrats and Republicans have been "fighting" for a long time and this has created a big polarisation in the United States since you are expected to be blue or red and agree with the party's ideology and ideas. In reality, things are different. Or at least they should be.
The problem with generalisations and, consequently, thinking that all Democrats are pro-choice, for example, is that they only create more disagreement. By using general labels a lot of expectations about how one should act are created, which does not reflect with accuracy how people really are and think. Someone can have both liberal and conservative opinions; the world would be a better place if people started acknowledging that and stopped killing each other because of divergent opinions.
This radicalism because of ideology has increased over the past years, which caused violence to get worse. Polarisation can influence people to get too attached to a specific ideology and not develop their critical thinking, and that has brought up a lot of far-right terrorist incidents lately.
The graph above shows how far-right incidents caused by terrorists have increased substantially. For example, in October 2022 a man shot and killed two people outside of an LGBTQIA+ bar in Slovakia. The killer was identified as the son of a former far-right political party. Another similar case was reported in the United States in November 2022, where a man opened fire at an LGBTQIA+ bar, killing 5 people.
It's impossible not to think of these events as hate crimes. Why do these individuals target specific populations? I believe they were probably not born full of hatred, but instead were taught because of the environment they grew up in, which influenced their beliefs and made them identify with a specific ideological group that promotes hate and violence against minorities.
It is hard to say where we are going. We live in a plural society and divergent opinions should be hard; that's democracy. However, we should be aware when hatred is masked as an opinion since our beliefs should not inhibit another person's right to live. Polarisation and extreme ideologies have spread like a virus; and, for humankind's own sake, I do hope a cure is found soon.
Sources
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/20/us/colorado-springs-shooting-gay-nightclub/index.html
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2014/06/12/political-polarization-in-the-american-public/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/03/01/break-up-two-party-system/
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/20/us/colorado-springs-shooting-gay-nightclub/index.html
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