“We the people” are no longer people. Political polarization has grown exponentially throughout the United States in the past decade. The two major political parties refusing to listen to opposing viewpoints has led to extremism, resulting in widespread dehumanization.
Polarization holds many roots and social media is a strong contributor. Social media has served as an outlet where users feel protected by anonymity. But more so, empowered, to say anything without repercussions.
The American people have become divided by online platforms’ use of algorithms. When scrolling through social media, users are shown content that represents their existing opinions and are directed to communities of users who hold similar beliefs, according to the Pew Research Center.
In today’s world, discussing politics with someone from an opposing party feels useless to most Americans. Many have become so stubborn in their perspectives that many people now seem to be paralleled to children on the playground—plugging their ears and singing loud rather than listening to something they don’t want to hear.
“When you refuse to simply identify another person with another opinion, as anything other than another person, you’re going down a bad direction,” AP US Government and Politics teacher Adam Pinkerton said.
The “othering” of humans has extended far beyond the average American and targets the most vulnerable. Throughout the 2024 presidential race, the transgender community and immigrants have been primarily blamed for the country’s issues. “Scapegoating” is the term for this tactic. The old psychological trick: politicians convince voters that the reason they’re upset with current conditions is because of a particular group to make political gains.
“I think politics and a political system based around compromise is very important,” SAGA Club President Alina Smith said. “But when that compromise extends to things like human rights, that’s when we’ve definitely gone astray.”
The transgender community is an easy target for scapegoating since they represent only 1% of the American public. In this race, the Trump campaign has spent an estimated $95 million on advertisements, with 41% percent being anti-trans.
Gender-reaffirming surgeries for prisoners, trans women in sports, and children undergoing transition surgeries during the school day are a few of the targeted issues the Trump campaign has made.
“There are studies [on trans women in sports]. There are so many things. It’s not a problem but people just keep making it a problem out of ignorance and hate,” Smith said.
Anti-trans rhetoric in the media misinforms the public and puts the trans community at risk. Dehumanization leads to suicidal ideation, being especially common among trans youth. Anti-trans legislation at the state level has limited transgender individuals’ access to healthcare.
“[Puberty blockers and HRT] is lifesaving healthcare, and depriving people of that will get them killed and has gotten them killed,” Smith said.
Transgender people have not been the sole victims of fear campaigns. Immigrants have been scapegoated as dangers to the nation, from fear-mongering statements expressing that all illegal immigrants are violent criminals to claims of Haitian immigrants eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio.
“They’re [immigrants] not rapists, they’re not murderers, they don’t traffic drugs,” senior Mateo Phelan said. “Just because you’re an immigrant does not mean you’re bringing something evil into this country.”
‘Illegal aliens’ is a term Americans have grown accustomed to when describing immigrants who have crossed the border illegally. However, the implications of the phrase hold great power.
“[Dehumanization] starts by calling your opponents something other than being a human,” Pinkerton said.
As a nation, we have become desensitized to the gravity language can hold. By simply switching words, such as “immigrant” to “alien,” we detach ourselves from the importance of an individual’s life.
“If we continue to see each other as less than human,” Phelan said. “That’s completely unproductive and it’s harmful to yourself as well because that means you’re holding ego higher than humanity.”
Politics holds great importance in our society, yet, our humanity should always come first. It’s easy to paint ourselves as the ‘good guys,’, and determine that any opposition is ‘evil.’ Ultimately, we are all flawed in our human nature.
To combat the apathy towards a perceived opposition, we must begin to listen rather than shout our opinions. Dehumanization will not stop now and it will not stop soon. It will continue unless we take action against it.
“If students want to see this change throughout their lives,” Pinkerton said. “They’re going to have to be the ones to make the change.”
