>>509574422 (OP)I had a very serious talk late last night with a woman I'm dating (who I consider an equal in every way, just to head any of that internet hermit stuff off at the pass). She has inherited a lot of the standard white liberal woman beliefs.
Through this discussion, I came to a specific realization about the way "the media" (by which I mean the sum of all outside voices, of electronic or printed means, that seek to shape individuals' opinions of society). Putting the specific content aside for a moment, I noticed something about the way "the media" speaks to us: they are open and not shy about telling us what we ought to believe about politics. politicians, and our fellow humans and they do it constantly, but they do it in such a way that each of us holds it as a "private and closely-held secret": we are trained and manipulated into being ever-present to hear what "they" have to say to us, but we are also trained and manipulated to never discuss these "personal secrets" with anyone else.
When I started asking her serious questions and not letting up, it was like watching one of those "woke person meltdown" videos. She did all the usual name-calling (racist, sexist and so on) but I just let her talk and her position kept shrinking and shrinking until she was basically left with "Trump is mean and my image of him makes me feel unsafe".
I think that first naming, then breaking through this conditioning and actually sharing notes is very harmful to the current stalemate and division. I don't think there are simple answers to why these societal norms exist, but I do definitely think that they somehow "want" us not actually talking to each other, but giving our attention and devotion to "them" instead. "They" can isolate us all in this way, and destroy us all in the end.