Divide

“Divide and conquer” is a well-known term, which is incredibly applicable when I look at society today. However, I see something concerning happening in today that goes beyond the usual division we have in our country/world.

For as long as I remember, most ‘popular’ divides amongst American (I can only speak on this, as it’s what I know) culture has largely been split between two camps of sorts, with republican and democrat rising to the surface as obvious examples.

Now, this post isn’t political by any means. These days, I don’t claim any political party, but that’s another topic for another blog.

Another caveat before I dive into this topic – I’m going to bring up a few notable examples of cultural divides. I’ll do my best to keep my thoughts to myself on each of them. However, it’ll probably be hard to put my foot in my mouth for a few of them. I’m more interested in sharing what I observe, rather than where I ‘stand’ on any particular side.

In both conservative/non-conservative camps, there are a few issues that have strung along both parties for decades, with fervent belief in their support of these topics. An example of this is the pro-life movement, which has a ride-or-die vote with any political candiate that wears a ‘choose life’ sticker on their lapel.

In the non-conservative camp, topics such as marriage equality, social welfare or minority support also have loyal followers. For example, when Obama ran for president, I knew a great deal of republicans that voted for him simply because he was black and they wanted to offer their support – which is something I can understand, to a degree. Sidebar: I’d be cast out as a redneck racist if I voted for somebody ‘because they were white’ – I digress.

There are a lot of other segments of our culture that give undiluted support to others on account of other factors – such as religion. When conservatives saw that Donald Trump was a ‘christian’, they stood behind him without question, or calling into question his actual lifestyle, ownership of casinos or multiple marriages.

Now, here’s where things get interesting.

In most cases, you could split the line in the sand between the conservative/non-conservative parties. However, there’s now a fragmentation among the traditional ‘lines’ of divide in our country/world.

For example, the covid-19 ‘plandemic’ was an event that caused a fragmentation amonst the ‘lines’ of support. While support for anti-covid measures, such as vaccination, had more opposition from the conservative camps, I also noticed a great deal of non-conservatives that avoided the jab.

Another great example is the transgender movement, which caused an interesting fragmentation amongst the gay population; many of which didn’t want to be ‘lumped in’ to assumed support, or have the ‘pride flag’ change its longstanding colors.

Another (current) example is the incident involving Charlie Kirk – as conservatives seem to be split between two camps; one who is full-on in support of Turning Point USA; the other, a la’ Candace Owens, is effectively showing the man behind the curtain in the whole organization, as well as the questionable nature of Erica Kirk.

One final example is the issue of immigration. This one, I will shed some of my own opinion on…

As a Dad, I try to imagine a world where I lived in a neighborhood entrenched in gang activity. While Atlas is only 4 years-old, it would worry me considerably that he’d be a prime target for recruitment in dangerous gang life as he grew older. I wouldn’t think twice about fleeing my country in order to keep him safe, even if it meant crossing the border to another country.

That being said, were I to enter a new country, I would want to make sure that myself and Atlas were fair, kind and good citizens of whatever country we fled to, because I would be sincerely thankful that he had an opportunity for a better life than where we came from.

I think that’s another blog for another time.

Going back to the idea of ‘splitting’ – what I see happening now is a wide spread ‘splitting’ of the proverbial camps, which I don’t think is entirely beneficial for the overall population of people.

Why?

Because I believe there’s a bigger agenda at hand than whether or not people get a shot, have the right to marry who they choose, or even where they choose to live.

If I were a malicous dictator or conquerer, I wouldn’t try to conquer two populations of people. What I’d do instead is make them fight with each other; thus, weakening the resources, energy and strength of each other. Why? Because it’d make it a lot easier for me to take control of both respective camps, appearing as a savior to reunite – rather than conquer – all the while, taking control of both camps.

I see this happening in the world around us now, which I find incredibly concerning. While people are arguing about who can marry who, what political puppet is best or whehter or not somebody can have an abortion after getting raped, there’s a dark, malicious infrastucture being imposed on most of the world that is building its’ fences around the people who are fighting with each other.

What ever happened to the idea of home? I mean, a safe place where two people can raise their offspring, sleep in peace at night and create a harmonious environment for all parties involved?

That’s a great question.

Lao-Tse said:

“If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.
If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.
If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.
If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.”

Read that again.