When fractiousness and intolerance spread so far and wide as to typify the style of thought and communication among a great many people in a society, the society is suffering a moral crisis. On the other hand, a conception of a healthy mind is given by John Keats, who described it as “capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, and doubts” while the individual remains warm-hearted
and serene. Keats’s type of mind is both healthy and responsive to the needs of democracy, which requires inclusiveness and mutual understanding to be genuinely democratic.
When an individual begins to think their value system is right, not only for themselves but also for everyone on Earth, and therefore should be regarded as the truth and universally adhered to,
the individual begins losing health of mind, respect for those who don’t agree, and fitness for democracy.
As to whether an individual first feels the heart hardening against other people and then justifies themselves on the basis of the superiority of their beliefs, or vice versa, is not precisely known.
In politics, of course, there is always intolerance. Yet it seems likely that the recent upsurge in politically motivated, internet-spawned conspiracy theories, together with increased paranoia and
partisan hatred, and the bewildered assault against a contrived idea of the resident evil in federal government, all have a near historical cause.
It seems likely that power elites, who profited from the 2017 tax overhaul and who control mega corporations and our information system (the media), have un-accidentally used influence to foment conspiracies and discord, turning us against ourselves, getting us so focused on vain disagreements that we don’t turn to see them raking in all the chips.
“Divide and conquer” is old as the hills. You know you’re in it when you start hating someone for disagreeing.
Steve Kirchhoff
Bozeman
Bozeman Daily Chronicle Letter to the Editor 3/13/21