How is women, blacks and gays having more rights a bad thing for western society?
Funny enough, I've seen more racism, bigotry, than ever before. All because of this huge push for DEI in entertainment media. The "progressives" of today have successfully undermined colored representation, women, and gays by portraying them in an unfair manner in media - read: ugly, badly characterized, forced, and awkwardly written. Whilst aggressively pushing moderates, centrists, into choosing sides if said moderates attempt to notice or speak up regarding their favorite media being clearly hijacked by activists who do not care about culture, entertainment, but to push a clear agenda.
This is the ironic and often overlooked aspect of social dynamics that many seem unable to grasp: extremism and, consequently, rampant polarization tend to reinforce the opposing stance. This is especially true today in an environment where communication has become increasingly decentralized. In the past, control over traditional media was often enough to steer public opinion. Confirmation bias works powerfully on the average person without critical awareness, making them gravitate toward the views they perceive as dominant within their social circles. It’s no accident that media control has historically been - and continues to be - used to create the illusion of a unified perspective.
But unless you’re living within China's firewall (and even there, it’s not foolproof), we now live in an era where ideas flow. You might control the top headlines, but you can’t police every YouTube video, every comment posted, every chat on Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp, or the countless online forums. Despite these efforts, opposing viewpoints slip through the cracks and disrupt any forced consensus. There’s a limit to how often people can be silenced or pushed out of spaces without feeling inclined to align with the other side. Contrary to what some believe, only the weak of mind and spirit are swayed by emotional appeals and ideological threats. Labeling every dissenting opinion as 'nazi' or calling every phrase a dog whistle for the 'true villain' isn’t persuasive. The first time, it might give people pause. The second time, it’s annoying. By the third time, the term loses its weight.
If every dissenter is called a 'nazi', the term becomes desensitized and eventually just means "person with a different opinion." Even more, you inadvertently encourage people to adopt such ideas. After all, if they’re being labeled this way for holding what they know to be a reasonable and sensible opinion, they’ll start wondering if the same mislabeling is happening to others too. "If I’m being called this, and I know I’m reasonable, maybe there are other reasonable people in this same group." And before you know it, it happens. This is the seed that fuels the rise of opposing extremist opinions. Ironically, in the extreme efforts to silence any mild dissent, people are pushed toward the exact opposite end of the spectrum. At first, it’s symbolic, since the divide is often created artificially, but real polarization soon follows. Push hard enough, and eventually, some people will fall.
As a result, we’re now seeing a surge in racist, sexist, and other prejudiced behaviors even more than before. I’m not from the US, but from an outsider’s perspective, or maybe precisely because of that, it’s clear to me that it was, in part, the American left that elected Trump in his first term. They effectively pushed out civil and honest discussions from public spaces, compelling many to take his side simply because the alternative felt worse. And it’s not just happening in the US either. I can’t say how social dynamics will evolve over the next few decades, but the past 10 years have been wild. At this point, nothing seems out of the realm of possibility, from the rise of authoritarian governments to the emergence of terrorist groups and even civil wars. A decade ago, I would’ve laughed at such predictions, assuming they were the territory of conspiracy theories. But society has consistently managed to disappoint me. At this point, I no longer know what’s plausible and what’s not.