This is so spot on. I have seen countless of times in forums how if someone voices concern about a vaccine they are immediately called "Trump supporter", even though they might not even be from the US. Especially in US though it seems that in people's minds there's just 2 types of people, one are allies and the other are enemies. Allies all have the exact same beliefs, and enemies exactly the opposite. Therefore if someone has a belief that doesn't agree with mine it means they must also hold all the other beliefs and must be of the enemy group. I think it's more than ridiculous. And you also can't hold a belief that's in between the other beliefs, this immediately means you are the enemy.
There's something in human nature such that when we learn something that we don't like about someone else, we wish to think them even worse, perhaps to feel justified in our own hatred.
I like the way C. S. Lewis wrote it:
> The real test is this. Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that
something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made
out. Is one's first feeling, "Thank God, even they aren't quite so bad as that," or is it a feeling of
disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking
your enemies as bad as possible? If it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process
which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning to wish that black
was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as
black.
And this is a dogshit simplistic way to view the world that leads to our. Social media and all of this tribalism makes all American dumber. It's removing our ability to understand and appreciate nuance and learning how to get along with those who think differently.
Ironically it was the liberals I most associated with opposition to vaccines in the recent past. In 2020 everything just became so much more polarized.
