The US is becoming dangerously polarized, even more so than in the 1960’s. Sure, some of the Obama and Romney death threats on Twitter are done by dimbulbs poisoned by alcohol, drugs, or testosterone. But it does highlight the ongoing breakdown in our society where the warring camps won’t even consider what the other side says but immediately attack it instead. That’s not good for democracy. Will the center hold?
Romney death threats on Twitter
Twitter goes wild after girl says “someone needs to assassinate Obama”
Secret Service arrest man for Twitter death threats against Obama. (Just so you know, the man who made the threat is black.)
What’s even more sad and tragic is the focus on the campaigns is on the few areas where the candidates have differences. When it comes to All War All the Time, shredding constitutional right in the name of stopping terrorism, and bailing out the big banks at the expense of the rest of us, Obama and Romney are indistinguishable. $5 billion will be spent by the presidential campaigns to convince us the other side is a Horrible Man. This shrill, nasty propaganda poisons our political system and discourse in exactly the same way all that money also compromises and corrupts the system.
Neither candidate has any ideas beyond soundbites for how to solve the pressing problems facing the country. Instead, they deliberately polarize politics with attack ads. Death threats on Twitter towards the candidates is the inevitable and unfortunate result of such a cynical and broken system.