Karl and I have been lying low this week with some kind of cruel invader, resulting in a whole bunch of coughing and sneezing, snorting and sniffling, and the rest of it. Once planned activities for the week had been postponed, I was left to consider how we were individually responding to this miserable bug.
For the most part, Karl’s reaction was coughing and hacking, necessitating drinking cough syrup straight from the bottle. I, on the other hand, was regularly exploding with a volley of ferocious sneezes, leaving a runny nose parched from being blown way too many times.
It was a bit confusing why we were having such different physical responses to the same thing seemingly. Then I thought perhaps it’s not the same thing. It could be that Karl has a cold, and I’m having allergies. In which case, we’re simultaneously experiencing two different situations with two different responses. So, who knows? At least we’re better, and I need to get my nails done.
But while I was still in that overthinking place where I spend perhaps too much of my time these days, it occurred to me that this isn’t all that different from what’s going on in the bigger world today. After all, we’re all experiencing what’s going on together while our reactions seem to be notably different. Or are we?
If one takes the position that we’re watching what is going on and seeing the same thing, the experience can differ based on the vantage point from which one is doing the watching. For example, everyone in the theater sees the same play. But watching it from row E, center, is different from watching it in the nosebleed section. That orchestra seat may be the best spot for watching a revival of A Delicate Balance. But one would then miss the flash of Elaine Stritch’s panties when she flings her legs in the air and flops on the sofa, to which those of us with mezzanine seats were treated. Perspective is everything.
But even allowing for differences associated with perspective, we’re not really all seeing the same thing, are we? We’re all human and subject to confirmation bias, and the powers-that-be have quite literally built that bias into the algorithms that determine what pops up on our social media feeds. Whatever we click on, pause on, or otherwise inquire about, we know we’re going to get a whole bunch of the same, without even asking for it.
For quite some time, we’ve heard commentators talk about how polarized we are politically. If that is the case, we have lost the spectrum of opinion and concentrated our thinking at one of two opposing extremes. Is that what most of us see?
While we are politically engaged—some might say trapped—in a two-party system, the electorate itself is divided into mostly reliable Democratic or Republican voters. I suspect even many Independents are reliably voting for one party or the other.
It seems that many, if not most, voters decide which candidate to vote for in the primaries and then vote for the party in the general. How the candidate is selected and the party chosen seems to be based usually on one of the three priorities: principles, pocketbook, and prejudices. Who we are is revealed in some part by how we vote. Of course, not voting at all is quite telling in a different way.
Perhaps both political parties are currently experiencing two different, but related, situations. The parties themselves represent a bifurcation. Within each camp, there seems to be a further split with efforts to pull both parties away from their extremes. The resulting opposition to such efforts tries to force the parties into or to stay in the extremes.
There’s so much going on to be concerned about these days. To those watching, the nation seems to be coughing and hacking all the time with a salvo of sneezes that go off like dynamite. Venezuela, Minneapolis, Greenland, ICE, the cost of groceries and health insurance, and so many others are setting the stage for the midterm elections. But the rebalancing of power, be it minor or major, will come from what happens in November.
I suspect it’s going to be a long, hard year, regardless of whether you’re sitting in row E, center, or somewhere on the upper balcony. We’ll pretty much have to leave those who aren’t watching the show to heaven.
By the way, one needn’t wait until intermission to get out of one’s seat.
