The Phantom of Polarisation

Do people actually disagree that much?

Continued from yesterday

A few years back, former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams opened up about his religious beliefs. Adams had spent many years in what his comrades called ‘the armed struggle’ as Sinn Féin’s paramilitary wing, the Provisional IRA, bombed, shot and murdered in the name of Irish nationalists - Catholics - against British forces and their Protestant allies. 

Yet when asked about his views on religion, Adams’ actual beliefs were entirely Protestant. The idea that the Troubles were caused by ‘religion’ was often trotted out by New Atheists like Christopher Hitchens in the 2000s; yet few of the participants knew or cared much about the details of transubstantiation or priestly celibacy. They were fighting for their tribe, in this case groups that largely descended from indigenous Gaelic-speakers or 17th century British settlers.

The same might be true of political sectarianism, too, an issue that has become more pronounced in recent years across the West, but most of all in the United States. Indeed, while that country has seen runaway polarisation these past two decades, many are sceptical that supporters of the two parties actually disagree on politics that much. 

After all, not many people take an active interest in the minutiae of public policy, but we all understand the concept of ‘us and them’. Once political ideology takes root as an identity, then our actual political beliefs are secondary.