4 Reasons Why We're So Divided

Mr. Beat explains why (it seems like) we are so divided as a society. Check out Dr. Sam Richards and his class/channel @SOC119!

Uh ok, so this is, like, the description of the video so keep reading. This was produced by Matt Beat. Music by @ElectricNeedleRoom(Mr. Beat's band), Bad Snacks, Cooper Connell, Francis Preve, Mishegas, NoMB, and LATASHA. Creative commons credits: Jackie Vlogs

Sources/further reading:
Age of Fracture by Daniel T. Rodgers (2012)
Why We’re Polarized by Ezra Klein (2020)
Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles, C. Thi Nguyen
Situational experience around the world: A replication and extension in 62 countries, Daniel Lee
Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger (2016)
The Evolution of Tribalism: A Social-Ecological Model of Cooperation and Inter-Group Conflict Under Pastoralism, Nicholas Seltzer
Identity Politics, Mary Bernstein

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#socialmedia #medialiteracy #sociology #politics

People seem to be more tribalistic than ever. Often, there are two teams, and you’re either with US or you’re with THEM.
And if someone from our team joins the rival team, boy we hate them even more than our enemies, don’t we. The word “TRAITOR” seems to roll off our tongues a bit easier these days.

And sure, most of the time it just seems like there are TWO teams, but within these two teams there is an endless amount of smaller teams. The number of people we identify as part of our team seems to be shrinking. The number of enemies we have? Well that seems to be growing. And we seem to hate our enemies more. And while our teams used to be more aligned with families, nations, countries, or religions, now our teams are more aligned with political parties, universities, neighborhood associations, media figures, or even Discord servers. This realignment has even caused family members to not talk to each other anymore. We have splintered so much that it’s even difficult to find someone to date on one of those dating app thingies.

And while the political divide in the United States seems to get all the attention these days, I argue that this is a much more systemic problem.

So why do we no longer have anything in common? In this video, I will tell you exactly why we no longer have anything in common, and I even got some insights from Dr. Sam Richards, the brilliant sociologist who runs the famous SOC 119 class at Penn State that has quite a YouTube following as well.
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
5:51 #1 The Shrinking Middle Class
7:27 #2 The Rise of Individualism
10:17 #3 The Rise of Identity Politics
11:50 #4 We Seek Out Information That Reinforces Our Identities
20:28 Outro

[iammrbeat]

Do any of you disagree with anything I said in the video?

If you do, then you can go eat soup. 😠

[biggestnerdalive]

It’s like what Mike Tyson said “social media has made y’all way to comfortable with disrespecting others and not getting punched in the face for it”

[NeoMORGOTH]

“We are pitted against each other by organizations and individuals who do not care about us and are enriched by our division”

[Furry_Wall]

Have you noticed that anyone who agrees with me is based but anyone who disagrees is cringe?

[monkeeee]

People joke about touching grass but I genuinely believe that we’d be in a much better place as a society if people spent more times outdoors/in nature

[TihetrisWeathersby]

With the rise of the Internet and Social media we don't talk to each other anymore, We just yell and insult through our keyboards

[jljordan]

Dale Carnegie once said in Win Friends and influence people that other people love talking about themselves. No logic, just appeal to them by talking about them

[anoukk_]

The reason media companies profit more off anger is not directly because of the anger it's self. It's because they profit off of engagement. It does not matter what that engagement is and what causes it. As long as someone is engaged they stay on the platform. They don't care what people are feeling while on their platform as long as they stay on their platform to be advertised to.

A very good way to prove this is that rage bait content simply works. A lot of creators intentionally leave a mistake or something frustrating in their video without acknowledging it. They do this in order to get people to engage with the video by correcting their mistake while not realizing the creator left it there on purpose.

[PsychorGames]

I'm not divided. I'm multiplied.

[TihetrisWeathersby]

Why am I just noticing you hit one million subscribers, It's what happens when you've been watching so long you stop paying attention

[TyTy_]

I’m a conservative, we can’t let politics get away of history. I love your videos.

[baseballer]

“Be kind to people be ruthless to systems”-Michael Brooks

[jetmax]

In 2012 me and my roommate drove together to vote. I don’t remember who he voted for, we talked about it, but it wasn’t our personalities

[archenemy]

The saddest thing is even in an age where most information is a quick Google search yet most people will only look at something at its face value without going in the detail

[matthew-xfzi]

I love you, Mr Beat I definitely don't agree with you on all things, but I respect how honest and fair you seem. You are principled and well informed.

[Falhalterra]

Short answer for me: Media and social media. I always bring up Bill Hicks because he had it from the get-go. You are being told to trust no one, to talk to no one because of fear. I think even George Carlin talked about this. I can't even scroll through my phone without seeing articles that make me feel like everyone is out to get me or is making fun of me or marginalizing a large group of people, etc. It's disgusting. "You are free to do as we tell you!" -Bill Hicks.

[Pershath]

I feel there is a feedback loop in play here.

When you insult someone in person you see how it affects them in real time. It makes you feel bad and your brain remembers that feeling. There were immediate consequences.

When you insult someone online there is no immediate consequence you can perceive, even though the person on the other side still feels that pain or sadness.

[larrysmith]

I’ve gotten tired of it if it ain’t politics, it’s race if it ain’t race, it’s sexuality.. this country is a constant fight all while money is getting snatched out our hands by corporations, inflation and taxes. I no longer see this place the same as I did when I was a child. It only getting worse.

[vwm]

I've always tried to base my friendships on character. I realized all my life that no one is going to agree with everything that I think. I have to say that it's becoming more difficult now than ever

[Potatotenkopf]

We have always been divided, either along class, ethnic, language, or any number of era specific lines. The real surprise is that we can come together under times of great stress but recently even that has become compromised.