We may not be as divided as thought

Editor:

Many people have seen this letter, of a wide variety of views, and so far not one person has disagreed with it. What do you think?

Is America as polarized as is often said and assumed?

Are you sure?

Proposal: Polarization is far less than stated and assumed by many. Why?

Due to my own personal experience and careful observation locally in my own community.

Which clearly indicates more of a continuum than a polarized community.

There are extremes at both ends of the political continuum which are very polarized — and those two relatively small continuum ends are making the noise and publishing.

And the middle ground majority are not making a noise or publishing because that is not their nature.

In addition: When we interact with someone with extreme views, it can have a big emotional and psychological impact on us that leads us to think more in terms of polarity than continuum, but that is misleading.

Institutional officials are mostly all one side of this continuum. But what percentage of society have institutional careers or positions? A very small percentage. They simply receive more attention due to the public nature of the position.

What about the vax percentage? Most people I personally know who have been vaxed do not have extreme or polarized views. They appear to be just going along with it.

If this is the case locally, it stands to reason it is the case nationally. In fact, our local community appears to be even more politically polarized, in general, for years, so if anything, the rest of the country may be even less polarized than our community.

What is your experience with those you personally know locally? I invite you to be very objective and see what you think …

This country and community may not be as divided as is being said.

Einar Olsen

Fairfield

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