Americans, Let’s Talk - Note for a discussion, "E Pluribus Unum? What Keeps the United States United."

Roger Cohen MAY 30, 2017, New York Times

Image from article, with caption: Supporters of President Trump at a rally at the Denver State Capitol in February.

Excerpt:

Tens of millions of Trump opponents cannot communicate with tens of millions of his supporters. There is no viable vocabulary. There is no shared reality [JB emphasis].

This is the chasm to which Fox News, Republican debunking of reason and science, herd­-reinforcing social media algorithms, liberal arrogance, rightist bigotry, and an economy of growing inequality have ushered us.

It’s perhaps the most important problem confronting the United States, because the end point of hardening fracture and mutual incomprehension is violence. ...

America needs the conversations it’s not having. They start, for both sides, with listening. The alternative is bloody confrontation.