It's Us vs. Them, or the Rhetoric of "Both Sides"

I have been troubled lately by the division in our nation. Probably many of you have also been troubled. It starts at our very highest levels and seeps down to every part of society. Our workplaces, churches, families, all are affected by this division.

I have noticed that there is often a phrase used when a controversial subject comes up. (Now, it seems practically any subject if controversial, including a medical pandemic). That phrase has something to do with "both sides."

We might hear, "There are good people on both sides..." or "If people on both sides could just come together..." or maybe "Surely people on both sides can agree to..."

Are we that simple a species that on whatever subject there are only two sides?

So, in thinking about this I realized something that many of you already knew. The idea of "two sides" is an illusion created to control us. Each "side" in politics makes progress by boiling down a debate to the "right" or "wrong" side. You are either on the right side or the wrong side. There is no middle ground.

Add to that the idea that we must vehemently hate those who are wrong because our very humanity is at stake. They must be defeated, humiliated, destroyed, not because this is fun or makes us feel good, but because it is the only way to ensure that our society will be what it is meant to be.

As complicated as the issues are that we are dealing with, are there really only two positions to take? Aren't there many, many more? What could we gain by ending the condemnation of others because they are on the "other side" and just realizing that there are so many different sides that we may never come to consensus, but maybe that's OK.

I am not appealing to simple moral relativism, however. There are rights and wrongs in the topics of the day including national health (life is more important than money/the economy/inconvenience), and racism (spoiler alert: racism is wrong). But even these issues cannot be boiled down to only two possible positions.

We need to recognize the beautiful diversity of experience, ethnicity, religion, gender, and other traits in order to be who we are designed to be by God. All people should be able to share in that type of community, not only "us" or "them."

It is far easier to make society two opposing poles, one good, the other bad, depending upon where you are located, but the reality is much richer, and I think much more beautiful. We will move forward together when we can stop being manipulated by political machines and start listening to one another cross all those lines that are used to divide us. It's not as simple as "us vs. them," but as long as we allow those with the biggest megaphones to convince us that is the case, we will continue to suffer.

Maybe that's the true revolution--a multitude of voices against two boiled down choices.