Lately I have been wondering… how bad can it get? The deep division in our country is so deep are we already in a civil war? I heard a commentator on tv say that we are, and it got me thinking what that means.
When we hear ‘civil war’ we think of the big one in our country, the one that happened due to big policy differences, that got to the point of differences in the value of human Beings. North vs. south. Slavery vs. freedom. Independent state’s power vs. federal power. People picked up weapons and fought against each other – even against their own family members. Sound familiar? As of today we have not heard of family members shooting each other but we have heard over and over again about verbal fights. Families deeply divided. Lifetime friendships ending. Urban vs. rural. BLM vs. PLM. State power during this pandemic vs. federal plans and awareness.
Peaceful protests are happening every day and night now. Violence is already on the edge of everything. So much so that my hubby does not want me to put up a diversity sign I got, worried it will upset someone enough to vandalize our property. A diversity sign! Look around and you will see signs and flags of people taking sides, supporting a candidate like they would a sports team.
I am aware that my social media knows how I lean politically, so I see plenty of posts and some of them are not factual. They are there to separate and to instill anger. I realize that there are actually tech experts who spend their time designing them. They do NOT do it to bring us together… that’s for sure.
We have never been in a place like this before due to so much false information going out as fact. It’s hard to tell if anything is real anymore. But, it’s creating a new kind of war online first, then It goes out on to the streets.
Will we stay civil? Will cooler heads keep it from escalating to true war? Can we get through this election season and its outcome without it getting physical? Stubborn side vs. stubborn side.
I don’t have much hope about it as I write this.
So, how do we, how CAN we, turn this around? Do we keep everything the same? Do we think 4 more years of this will stop a war? No. We need to emphasize peace right now. We need to calm people down. We need to hear from the top that our ‘united’ states come before anything else. If, yes, we are already in a civil war then we need to figure a way to get out of it before it turns deadly.
Vote. Use your voice. But do not escalate what is happening. We are on a brink now and we need to step back. This is America. We, the people, can still decide. There is nothing civil about a war. Let’s not go there.
Marla’s Musings 