It’s not just that we disagree, it's that we’re trained to disagree performatively. Algorithms push us into echo chambers, and disagreement becomes a signal of loyalty, not a search for truth.
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Performative disagreement is a good term. I've been lacking the words to talk about the knee-jerk reaction to denounce any conversation whatsoever with anyone captured by disordered discourse.
Finding common ground isn’t weakness, it’s democratic strength. But we’ve built systems where compromise looks like betrayal and where visibility depends on outrage. That’s the crisis.
What we’re losing isn’t just civility, it’s the infrastructure for shared sense-making. Without that, disagreement becomes existential. That’s when democracy starts to collapse.
I am increasingly convinced that America first lost that battle when it surrendered to the Brooks Brothers rioters and keep losing it to a party that respects no inconvenient norms and denies inconvenient concrete facts.
And now we see civility weaponized against civilization.
Once facts are denied, the only destination is a malevolent and willful stupidity. When Sean Spicer insisted on the crowd size lie, and Ms. Conway declared "we have alternative facts," the media acquiesce has led us here.
Now we need bullwhips to the face to even enter the discussion.
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And now we see civility weaponized against civilization.
Now we need bullwhips to the face to even enter the discussion.