America is Divided to Death

-- A causal analysis on the current divisions in America --   

          More than 138,000* Americans have died in the past five and a half months. At least, an additional 2.5 million* Americans are in the midst of a potentially fatal battle with a microscopic enemy. More than one percent** of the entire American population has contracted COVID-19.1 While the avoidance of the novel coronavirus pandemic may or may not have been possible, its containment certainly was, and this fact was proved to us by many countries around the world. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to grow exponentially in the United States, Americans are still dealing with another, far more mature and entrenched killer; systemic racism. Black people are three times more likely to be killed by police officers than white people, even though they are 1.3 times more likely to be unarmed.3 In New York City, 88% of all reported police stops in 2018 were of Black and Latinx people, while only 10% involved white people.? For the years 2013 through 2017, white patients in the United States received higher quality healthcare than around 40% of Black patients and 34% of Hispanic patients.?

          Both systemic racism and the COVID-19 pandemic have extinguished an unconscionable number of human lives but have done so in very different ways. Many would argue that these two atrocities have little to do with one another. While it is true that the two issues have vastly different origins and impacts, the reason we can’t seem to overcome either is the same; profound, sharp divisions of Americans that are intolerant of each other. America is so severely divided that it is killing us, in both a literal and figurative sense. Three forces primarily fuel the apparent divisions in America today; the vicious cycle of comparative judgment that Americans have been conditioned to partake in; a societal structure that rewards greed, gluttony, and selfishness; and a governmental system where wealth determines who has power.

          The societal structure in America today glorifies individuals, families, businesses, and groups who have more than others — treating those who have more as if they are better or more important and those with less as worthless or less than. The constant comparison of oneself to others continues to become even more pervasive as the amount of social media content and other similarly fictional content we consume increases. Americans are conditioning themselves to view life as a never-ending competition. Every observation of someone else is another time we pass judgment to see if we are “winning” or “losing”. This competition doesn’t start or stop at possessions or wealth, however. We apply it to every aspect of who we are. Every interaction is a check of the scoreboard: Am I (smarter, stronger, faster, taller, skinnier, prettier, richer, better, more righteous, more successful, more educated, etc.) than this person? If I believe the answer is yes, I “win”. If I think the answer is no, I “lose”.

          As individuals collect more “wins”, they are creating a conditioned belief that they are superior to the types of individuals that, in their view, “lost”. Naturally, these individuals will become more rooted in their superiority complex as the cycle of comparison continues. With each repetition, they will lose some sense of humility, tolerance, and empathy. Rather quickly, these individuals will have enough data from previous judgment cycles to apply their sense of superiority categorically. Most times, this will manifest as stereotyping, generalizations, racism, bigotry, intolerance, or partisanism. These individuals will often have no remorse for saying or believing dangerous things like: “Homeless people are just drug users.” “I don’t need to know what the [elected office] candidate stands for, they are a [political party], and I know they’ll be better than any [left or right] wing extremist.”, “Everyone in that part of town is a thug [or criminal].”, “I refuse to wear a mask, [the group I identify with] knows these ‘experts’ don’t know what they’re talking about.”, “If [minority race] people just stopped [doing this] they wouldn’t be getting killed.”, “If they don’t like it here, they can go back to where they came from.”. All of these statements or beliefs, and ones like them, stem from individuals both believing they are superior to and completely lacking tolerance and empathy for people different from them. The more Americans who continue to participate in this vicious cycle of comparative judgment and rack up those “wins”, the more divided and intolerant we become as a society.

          On the other hand, as individuals are conditioned to see more of their interactions as “losses”, mental health issues like depression, anxiety, body dysmorphia, drug dependence, suicide, and others, will increase. Unfortunately, the people with many self-proclaimed “wins” are typically much more vocal, involved, and likely to be in positions of power than those with many self-proclaimed “losses”. This fact reduces the representation of our citizens that need it most and enables the cycle to continue, thus deepening the divide.

          As with our comparative judgment cycle, America’s societal structure is to blame for Americans’ success-at-all-costs philosophy. As soon as American children begin to understand the world around them, they are exposed to a society that values wealth above all else. Even if they never hear it explicitly said, it is obvious to even a young mind what they see around them. They understand that wealthy people are corporate executives, governors, legislators, presidents, actors, athletes, and similar. They also see that their teachers, coaches, and caregivers struggle to have enough supplies to do the job. The value system in America makes it very clear to everyone, including our children, that if one wants to become wealthy or successful, they ought not focus on altruistic work, helping others less fortunate, or bettering society. The most successful people, by society’s standards, are the ones who focused only on themselves and their businesses, the ones who cut as much cost as possible regardless of impact, the ones who took advantage of tax policy loopholes and bankruptcy laws to avoid contributing to society.

          Many wealthy American individuals and corporations could easily support some small businesses or individuals negatively affected by the pandemic. Still, most don’t because it would hurt their bottom-line, and the shareholders wouldn’t stand for that. Instead, we see the large companies pretending to help, to save face, by offering minuscule refunds of insurance premiums or allowing a customer to delay a month’s payment but continuing to charge daily interest. Similarly, there is tremendous potential in what our wealthiest individuals and corporations could do to reduce the impact of systemic racism and lead American society to complete tolerance of one another. Instead, we see public relations stunts wrapped in hollow Diversity & Inclusion initiatives and one-time donations never thought of again because the company doesn’t care if change happens, only that they don’t lose any customers during this time. Furthermore, many of these large, wealthy organizations are unnecessarily laying off workers, or reducing workers’ salaries and hours, or even taking emergency funding designated for small businesses without a genuine need for it.

          All of these unfortunate facts are very similar to what we regularly see from our elected officials, especially at the government’s highest levels. We have elected leaders propagating false narratives, supporting and directly contributing to racism and bigotry, litigating cases against their constituents’ best interest, criminalizing the individuals fighting for change, and facilitating backroom deals that are not in America’s best interest, with the sole purpose of retaining power. All of these actions are efforts to maintain the status quo in one way or another. If our leaders and most able individuals and organizations aren’t working to close these societal divisions, they contribute to their growth.

          When one takes the time to analyze the correlation between government officials and wealthy individuals, corporations, lobby groups, and political organizations, it becomes clear that America’s government is not elected but instead purchased. Most politicians begin their political journeys to be a force for positive change. Still, so many that are unwilling to bend to the pressures of the wealthy are pushed out before they can make any meaningful impact. The sheer cost of financing a political campaign at any government level makes it nearly impossible for anyone to succeed without a large entity’s financial support. Although, that financial support comes at a high cost; quid pro quo. That politician who dreamed of making the country a better place now faces a lose-lose choice; accept the financial support and do the bidding of your donors, or reject the financial support and lose the election to someone who took it.

          This political environment, coupled with the greed and succeed-at-all-cost mentality far too typical in America, has led the country to a place where our elected leaders are simply the pawns of their wealthy donors. These wealthy donors include many organizations that act on behalf of companies that profit from dividing America further. Private sector corporations are contracted to run most prisons in America. Racism and the criminalization of Black people and other minorities are profitable for them. It ensures that they have the inmates they need to continue getting paid by the government. Pharmaceutical companies profit from chronically sick Americans, so the healthcare system is designed to treat, not prevent illness. Oil and Energy corporations profit from extracting, refining, and selling non-renewable energy substrates. Of course, renewable energy is not appropriately prioritized.

          We know Americans would never accept a surgeon that benefited financially from their patients dying or a financial advisor that made more money when their client lost it all or a teacher that got a bonus for all of their students failing. We call these conflicts of interest, and we don’t allow it for a good reason; when someone has a strong financial motivation to do the wrong thing, they are much more likely to do it. Nevertheless, we sit back and fight amongst ourselves, enabling major corporations and wealthy actors with blatant conflicts of interest to determine how the country operates. They will never bring us together, and for as long as we allow them to maintain control, the divides in America will continue to grow.

          Every American is currently enduring the worst health crisis in a century and the worst economic crisis in numerous decades. We should be coming together to support one another, setting differences aside, and working together toward the goal that we should all share, ridding our country of these significant problems. Unfortunately, that is not the behavior of many Americans today. People are more concerned with minor discomfort and disruption of their plans than the health of the masses. Individuals are ignoring sound science and, in some cases, disseminating dangerously false narratives that the risks do not exist. Elected leaders are involved in litigation against one another because of a difference of opinion or belief on what course of action is best. Much of the legislative and executive branches of government are flamboyantly more concerned with their reelection than delivering on the oath they took to serve the American people. Some Americans are engaging in both subliminal and overt racism, bigotry, and intolerance. Other Americans are amplifying the voices and stoking the fires of those intolerant actors. Others still are witnessing it happening but refusing to do anything about it.

          Americans have lost their family members, friends, colleagues, and other loved ones to avoidable death, be it COVID-19 or racist murder. Healthcare workers are risking their own lives to help those in the direst of circumstances. Yet for so many Americans, the egotistic behaviors, the narcissistic mindsets, the absence of respect for others, the refusal to deal with a minor sacrifice to help a neighbor, and the abhorrent intolerance of those who are different from them, seem more prevalent today than ever before.

* COVID-19 case quantity counts accurate as of July 18, 2020

** Percentage derived from COVID-19 cases divided by US Population 2 (as of July 18, 2020)

References

1. CDC (2020, July 18). Cases in the U.S. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html
2. US Census (2020, July 18). Population clock. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/popclock/
3. WeTheProtesters, Inc (2020, June 30). Mapping police violence. Retrieved from https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/
4. NYCLU (n.d.). Stop-and-frisk data. Retrieved from https://www.nyclu.org/en/stop-and-frisk-data
5. AHRQ (2019). 2018 National healthcare quality & disparities report. Retrieved from https://www.ahrq.gov/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/research/findings/nhqrdr/2018qdr-final.pdf

-- If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading!