“Divide et impera” (divide and conquer) was the strategy used by Julius Caesar to conquer Gaul. For the last two millennia and perhaps before, this diabolical tactic has brought down empires by weakening the strength that comes from unity. In our own day, the divisions that we experience threaten the fabric of democracy and portend a rocky and perilous future for us all.
Understanding the depths of these divides is no easy task ― but an essential undertaking. Political divisions are a good and natural part of democracy. Our current climate, however, elevates disagreements in such a way that opponents are viewed as enemies and differences are regarded as heresy.
This divisive climate became fertile ground for the politicization of wearing masks to ward off COVID-19 and for refusing to take vaccines. It became the backdrop for our recent presidential election and has polluted legitimate questions surrounding religious liberty. It has even become a template for inflaming rhetoric within religious organizations around certain moral issues.
The “echo chamber” analogy helps to explain the swiftness of the growth of new divisions. Listening only to ideologically-driven people or sources who have already solidified their opinions creates “amen” corners and nothing more. Crevices become canyons within a single news cycle.
Icebergs have tips above the water line without disclosing their size or depth. Tectonic plates are also not visible to the naked eye. They exist in tensions with one another. When they move, however, an earthquake is the result. The divisions that exist in our social milieu today may very well be like tectonic plates, held in tension by conventions and customs, but so deeply rooted that they are beyond our gaze.
The biggest plates are anthropological. The broken state of humanity that began with Adam and Eve leaves us tottering on the edge of damnation. This means that life is a constant battle to overcome evil and the ever-changing mores of civil society need to be resisted because civilization itself hangs in the balance.
Its adjacent plate looks at creation before the apple tree. It is all good, all beautiful, but filled with the unknown about its true potential. Life is a mystery to be lived and not a problem to be solved. Evil is denying that the universe is dynamic and not static. Knowledge is constantly exploding, expanding human consciousness beyond the conventions of a stationary world.
The divisions that we experience have very deep roots and create filters through which everything must pass. Heaven is all that really counts in one way of looking at the world. Creating heaven on earth is the alternate vision because all creation is intrinsically good with unlimited potential.
Some divisions have superficial roots and can change with the wind. Some days the national debt is completely ignored but mystifyingly becomes a burning crisis a few days later. Posturing divisions have short-term goals. Canyonlike divisions, however, go to the heart of civilization and breed fears and hopes that color everything.
Human rights, racism, climate change, abortion, homosexuality, religious liberty, gender science,
sexism, immigration, capitalism, and socialism are some of the burning issues of our day. Fueled by the optimism or pessimism of the echo chambers, finding middle ground or, at the very least, the ability to live in peace with people of opposing views becomes a bridge too far.
Fifty years ago, PBS created an award–winning public affairs television show called “The Advocates.” Long before “America’s Got Talent” (AGT), remote audiences were invited to take a deep dive into contentious issues. It used a modified trial format and literally put “decidable questions” before a public jury. The format allowed a thorough investigation of an issue with knowledgeable adversaries who disagreed without being disagreeable. This is exactly the kind of forum that we need today if we are to ever heal the wounds of division that surround us.
Without sincere dialogue that respects divergent opinion and seeks common ground, our future as a healthy democracy is at risk. The paralysis that exists in our nation’s capital is an effect of the deep divisions that have been cultivated by social media over and outright mendacity. Unless an emerging consensus propels this kind of discussion, our social discontents will continue to explode in Jan. 6–type events.
Msgr. Paul Garrity is the retired pastor of St. Brigid and Sacred Heart parishes in Lexington and St. Mary’s Parish in Lynn.
