If you care about divisiveness, don't argue about motives
I read a lot about people concerned with our "divisive" political culture in this country (the U.S.). This is particularly interesting because it is almost always used as a criticism. One almost never hears someone say that his own party is deepening the political divisions in the country; it is always the other side. In other words, the problem of divisiveness is used in a divisive way. It may seem natural that people would see the other side as the source of the problem, but compare this to issues like military armament. It is not difficult to find people urging unilateral disarmament on their own governments, as though the military problem would disappear if one side had no way to defend itself. On the other hand, I have yet to hear someone urge his party or faction to stop using divisive language even if the other side continues to take advantage of it. Arguably this was the tack Hilary Clinton was taking in her presidential campaign when she re...