“This is what the liberal disease looks like,” one X user posted. “This woman and those like her are insane.”
This is one of the many examples of uncivil posts about someone’s opposing political party. This occurs on both sides of the US political spectrum.
The rise of social media in this decade has done nothing but encourage growing political polarization and has even widened the divides within parties.
In the modern era, it’s no surprise that social media has been increasingly used to spread political messages and campaign promises, according to Roger Williams University. However, it’s not entirely helping these political movements and ideas succeed.
Political campaigns might seem simple on the surface, with Kamala Harris’s campaign accounts on TikTok focusing on trends for a Generation Z audience, and the Trump administration using Joe Rogan’s podcast to spread its campaign messages. Political polarization runs rampant along with misinformation and uncivil discourse on apps like X and Truth Social, both within the party and toward the opposition.
“I deleted all of my social media accounts during COVID because of how much politics was being debated on all platforms; it was pretty draining,” first-year Livia Johnson said.
People have been fleeing X as Elon Musk’s association with the Trump administration has grown stronger. “More than a quarter million users deleted their accounts after Election Day — and more than a million people joined the site’s upstart competitor, Bluesky,” Adam Rogers wrote for Business Insider.
Political burnout is also a factor in growing polarization.
The idea of “not being liberal enough” started to develop in more hyper-liberal spaces during the first Trump term and expanded more with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the peak of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, according to Firstpost. The ideology’s foundations were based on well-intentioned ideas of prioritizing social justice nationally, rather than smaller and more local concerns, according to John Gray.
This idea, however, has spread to include dismantling opposing parties and the opposition’s extremist thinking. This has also led to shaming others for not doing what some see as “enough.”
“May we never forget that authoritarianism is made possible by liberal silence, complicity, moral apathy and indifference to the suffering of others,” one X user wrote.
The idea of “not being conservative enough” is more of an opposition to the centrist ideas throughout the Republican Party. If someone is not ultra-conservative, they might be viewed as “not conservative enough” by other members of their party. Ultra-conservative ideas started growing in the 1960s due to fears of communism during the Cold War, according to The Washington Post. The idea has continued to grow and change into its modern version, infiltrated with neofascism and nationalism.
One useful way to see this interior party polarization is the “Republicans Against Trump” X account that believes that the Trump administration is too ultra-conservative for some members of the Republican party, leading members to vote centrist.
Not only is there political unrest internally within parties, but there are also widespread disagreements between the two sides of the spectrum.
This isn’t surprising if you have been on the internet at all in the past decade, but the growing divide is the main issue.
Even 15 years ago, the opposing sides of the American political spectrum were more united than they are currently. Despite the differences in opinion during the 2012 election between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, the majority of the American public had political discussions in a somewhat civil manner. Yes, uncivil and violent discourse did still happen, but it was far less than what is seen today.
So, what’s changed to increase polarization now? The growing extremism on both sides of the spectrum, in my opinion, is to blame.
Due to the rise of extremist ideas being shared on social media, the increasing amount of uncivil discussions is unsurprising.
“I’m scared to talk about my political opinions in public sometimes,” first-year Kinberly Addo said. “I never know who’s listening to my conversation and will try to argue with me or will try to convert me to their ideas.”
People can’t just have an opinion online anymore — they have to be willing to fight tooth and nail to prove their opinion and shut down anyone who disagrees. This leads to discussions without productive outcomes, since neither side is willing to hear the other out. This results in name-calling and the spread of misinformation.
If someone simply posts an opinion — whether political or not — others feel the need to comment on their disagreements and shame the other party for sharing their beliefs.
To actually get anything done, we need to cut down on extremist ideas and promote actual civil discourse and discussions rather than resorting to insults and spreading misinformation. Sadly, the way things seem to be going, this way of thinking is here to stay.
Next time you’re having a political debate online, ask yourself: Will change actually come out of this debate, or will it just increase the growing political divide?
Caroline Raleigh can be reached at rale6166@stthomas.edu.
