Can you name a word that best describes the current state of affairs? Merriam-Webster thinks the word ‘polarization’ fits that bill nicely.
The dictionary people have spoken. Merriam-Webster announced its selection of the 2024 word of the year, and polarization gets the nod. Given that there are people still reeling from the presidential campaign and, in particular, the election results, I wouldn’t say it’s a terrible choice.
“Polarization means division, but it’s a very specific kind of division,” Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large, told The Associated Press ahead of the announcement. “Polarization means that we are tending toward the extremes rather than toward the center.”
As someone who has always been more middle-of-the-road politically, I wish we could head back the other way.
The dictionary’s official primary definition states it this way:
division into two sharply distinct opposites
especially : a state in which the opinions, beliefs, or interests of a group or society no longer range along a continuum but become concentrated at opposing extremes
The announcement comes in an election year that put the concept on display, The Guardian reported, citing Kamala Harris warning of fascism under Donald Trump as Trump resorted to name-calling and claimed his opponent was running on “destruction.”
But this is how politics works in this country. We have a two-party system with a vested interest in making sure no third party becomes viable. (That would make the two parties’ jobs much harder, after all.)
So those two parties are constantly at each others’ throats. They try to divide. Everything is “we vs. they.” The strategy seeks to force all of us on one side or the other. And when we pick that side, those parties work hard to make sure we never consider what those other folks are seeking.
I wish people would realize that politics isn’t like a football game.
But until they do, polarization is a fact of life that’s probably only going to get worse. Don’t blame our founding fathers for that, though. Look in the mirror: we’re doing it to ourselves.