We see it in headlines that are always using metaphors for war. We see it in our public conversations, which are always debates, get the most polarized extremes, put them on, let them slug it out. And we see it in an attack culture where journalists, intellectuals of all sorts think unless you're attacking and criticizing, you're not really thinking. It's a general atmosphere of animosity and contention that has taken over our public discourse. It has gotten worse.
Every news story is about conflict.
There's a fear that the audiences will be lost, and we see this as well in politics. We have a two-party system. We always have had that, and that's been one of our strengths. But what people referred to as gridlock, now we have a campaign that goes on forever, so the people not only attack each other during the campaign season but even during what should be a season of governing. We find the parties just trying to do what they can to oppose the other party, to make sure that they won't win in the next election.