Jon Mills at the Politics and Rights Review:
As we observe our current world order becoming less cohesive, more volatile, socially fractured, politically polarized, and hence arguably less predictable, it becomes increasingly difficult to understand why.
Difference, prejudice, and group identification in opposition to alterity, as well as tolerance and cooperation based in mutual self-interest, have always existed among civilized collectives; but within today’s multicultural societies tolerance has given way to contempt, if not outright animosity, directed toward others without filters or restraint.
It is not uncommon to witness verbal aggressiveness, uncouth swearing, and intimidation displayed toward strangers while having a morning coffee. Such unbridled disdain in public spaces has sometimes led to civil disobedience—even violence, where interpersonal courtesy, mutual respect, and common decency have given way to what some people feel are acceptable ways of expressing their acrimonious attitudes and opinions, what we may call the new abnormal.
If I may venture a hypothesis, I would say two main reasons that divide people in our contemporary societies are…
More here.
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