Continuing polarization in our media and society has turned millions of Americans into haters.
I read that 80 percent of Biden supporters and 84 percent of Trump supporters consider the other side to be a threat to democracy.
Deliberate manipulation of facts has caused people to hate the other side, to want to get even and to rejoice when misfortune befalls others.
Any leader who takes a strong public stand receives hundreds of hate mail messages and very graphic threats.
We’re becoming a nation of two armed camps.
Since the other side is evil, it has become a good thing to cheat or lie to defeat them.
It is a great feeling to get even with the bad guys and to watch them get what they deserve.
The day of infamy that helped this happen was the 1987 Federal Communications Commission decision that the news media did not have to present both sides of an issue.
By continually hammering what’s bad about the other side builds a culture of extremism and division.
Reversing this decision will enable extreme positions to be challenged and more moderate views will lead.
None of us can stop the hate and accusation by ourselves.
To help myself every morning I love and forgive myself, all of mankind and those on the other side.
Try it.
I feel much better about everything and can see that there are mostly decent people on all sides of our challenging issues.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t support the causes you support
John Usher
Port Angeles