The toxic state of political discourse – San Bernardino Sun

I don’t normally put stock in polls, no matter how “scientific” they claim to be, especially when they extrapolate sweeping conclusions based on a tiny sampling. Still, a recent JL Partners poll published in the British tabloid, The Daily Mail, caught my attention because, well, how could it not?

The headline said, “1 in 5 Young Americans Has Positive View of bin Laden.”

According to the pollsters, of the 1,000 Americans ages 18-29 asked, 20% believe Osama bin Laden was an OK guy, with 3 in 10 claiming he was a “force for good” in the world.

A month earlier, the same pollsters found that Gen Z Americans are more likely to deny the Holocaust than older Americans, and they sympathize with Hamas at a greater rate.

Congressman Jared Moskowitz, D-Florida, saw the same Daily Mail story and X’d, “Foreign countries have infiltrated our kids minds through online propaganda.”

If only it was that simple.

Something much more ominous has taken place, a morally corrupt zeitgeist has taken hold converting right and wrong from objective concepts to personal opinions, mostly rooted in historical wounds, both real and perceived. This world view brands the rich and privileged as oppressors (always) and therefore blames the First World (mostly us) for all the world’s ills. This new moral construct has infected the culture across all demographic and political categories, with left and right vying for the title most oppressed, while defining themselves as the underdog. The right bemoans “The war on Christmas,” the left wants to cancel anyone who suggests men can’t give birth.

While the Trump-era normalized hate in politics, climaxing (at least for now) in the Jan. 6 insurrection, what flew under the radar is the radicalization of the left.

The Oct. 7 Hamas attack has opened the eyes of many who still identify as traditional liberals. They are now confronting radicals in their own coalition, including militant anti-Semites and America-haters who support the destruction of Israel and believe America is an agent for evil in the world.

The left has instituted behavior codes under the rubric of DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) that frequently make a mockery of intellectual curiosity, the free exchange of ideas, and simple facts.

If you find any of these poll numbers shocking, talk to your children or grandchildren, you may be in for a bigger shock. As the years race by, yesterday’s tragedies and horrors are quickly forgotten and frequently rebranded by demagogues and political hacks to convince the ill-informed that the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery or Jan. 6 was just a typical day at the Capitol. This new way of thinking enabled the “pro-police party” to attack police officers with flagpoles while attempting to stop the certification of a presidential election while the “party of tolerance and inclusion” excludes and censors those who hold different views. The same folks who pillory Ron DeSantis for his school book bans, routinely censor their own students for using the wrong pronouns.

It’s hard to tell how many of the young people chanting “From the river to the sea” actually want Israel wiped off the map, or just want to be seen as standing with the oppressed. But those who chant slogans promoting genocide need to remember the year 1939 when 20,000 Americans filled Madison Square Garden to pledge allegiance to Adolph Hitler under the pretense of supporting America. The turbulence roiling the world today represents a similar moral litmus test. All of us will be judged accordingly.

Doug McIntyre’s column appears Sundays. His novel, “Frank’s Shadow” is available on Amazon. Reach him at: [email protected].