Political Sectarianism

There is a new term circulating among university political science departments. It is “political sectarianism.”

We generally think of sectarianism in a religious context. For instance, the world of Islam is divided, often violently, between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. We refer to them individually as sectarian factions. But it also applies to the various Christian and Jewish sects.

We have a history of religious sectarianism in this country; now it’s been joined by political sectarianism. Both are tribal, and both are peopled by adherents who aren’t persuadable.

So, what happened?

From Shanto Iyengar, a political scientist at Stanford, “I would single out the profound transformations in the American media system over the past 50 years. Basically, we’ve moved from an “information commons” in which Americans of all political stripes and walks of life encountered the same news coverage from well-regarded journalists and news organizations to a more fragmented, high choice environment featuring news providers who no longer subscribe to the norms and standards of fact-based journalism. The increased availability of news with a slant coupled with the strengthened motivation to encounter information that depicts opponents as deplorable has led to a complete breakdown in the consensus over facts.”

The first time I went to London, I was astonished to see all of the tabloid newspaper boxes on the arrivals curb. You could pick your news based on your political leanings. We had not yet experienced that sort of media fragmentation in the United States.

Then came the platforms like Fox News, Talk Radio, and San Diego’s own OAN on the right, and the likes of Huffington Post, Slate, and the Daily Kos on the left, and gone were the days when we enjoyed an agreed-upon set of facts. There are now so many partisan news outlets that we have joined the UK tradition of having consumers pick the news that suits their politics.

Crowd Tangle, an analytical website which is owned by Facebook, reveals that in the post-election period, some conspiratorially-inclined outlets garnered a larger audience than their mainstream competitors. The worm has turned.

Without fuel, the fire dies. In 1968, George Wallace’s segregationist, White supremacy platform garnered 13% of the vote. After the election, his stark messaging returned to the subtler language we were used to. Then Obama’s election brought racial resentment back to the surface, making a Trump presidency possible. Today, thanks to fuel primarily from social media, a more divisive, less subtle message seems okay, and garners about 30% support nationally. (Trump captured 46% of the vote.)

A question to readers: have you ever thought about why in recent years liberals like me have gone from being your loyal opposition to your sworn enemies? I think political sectarianism, ginned up by social media, is the culprit.

In scrutinizing the 25,000 National Guard and law enforcementofficersdeployed to secure the inauguration, the Secret Service removed twelve people for ties to right-wing extremist groups. Two of the twelve had explicitly threatened elected officials online in posts that violated Facebook and Twitter terms of service, but were somehow allowed to stand.

The Wall Street Journal, referencing the preparation and initial reaction to the January 6th riot, wrote, “Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, called the police reaction "the starkest example of racism and disparities in our society." Adding, "If those were Black militants, armed militants, storming the U.S. Capitol, I think they’d all be dead right now."

As a result, we are concerned that we have a law enforcement problem. The Justice Department is investigating the Louisville and Minneapolis police departments for excessive use of force against people of color. It’s clear that we need better vetting for a profession that naturally attracts authoritarian personalities in addition to those who really want to protect and serve their entire communities.

Bloomberg reports that “In China, the events at the Capitol prompted a rush among intellectuals seeking a three-decade-old book, ‘America Against America,’ about how individualism will lead to US decline.”

Even the Covid vaccine is polarizing. Democrats almost unanimously for it; nearly half of Republicans opposed*. Can you imagine 45% of Republicans refusing to get the polio vaccine sixty years ago?

Recently, I was shocked by the rhetoric of a lifelong friend who has now decided that Democrats constitute a death cult, and that a number of party leaders— including Joe Biden—are, of all things—cannibalistic pedophiles. There is of course no credible source for this. Just the Qanon conspiracy theorists who now hold sway with a dishearteningly large number of our friends and neighbors. As Mark Twain observed, it’s easier to fool people than it is to convince them they’ve been fooled.

President Lincoln said a house divided against itself cannot stand. How long can we stand in the face of political sectarianism?

©2021 Jon Sinton