There’s another thread in this forum asking if the United States is entering a civil war.
Funny. When I go into the real world, and generally live my life, I don’t think it is. Sure, there’s disagreement, and even some rancor, but we’re doing OK. I get along fine with my brother the fervent Trump supporter, and my wife, the non-Trump-supporting conservative. They think I’m alright, too, even if I’m way too liberal for them. The Trump supporters I’m acquainted with know that the country survived Obama. The liberals know that the country will survive Trump. It takes more than four years (or eight years) to break the United States.
At work, everyone gets along. Muslims, Orthodox Jews, Catholics like me, atheists. We talk about all kinds of stuff. A Muslim dude at the office (seconded to the NY office from the Riyadh office) asked me about my ashes last Wednesday. I explained. He was interested. We had an interesting conversation about religion. Cool. That’s how it should be.
But then I come here, and I wonder. Especially lately, if I judged the whole country by this forum, I would think the civil war is well under way. I would think the United States is about to disintegrate. I would think that a significant percentage of the population has lost its grip on reality. I would be really, really scared. I’d start hoarding freeze-dried food or something. Maybe even get a gun. Or move up to my wife’s family’s island home in rural Canada.
I think that means I have to spend less time here and more time out there in the real world.