Polarization

In the current political debate, there is much talk about polarization. Polarization, characterized by the strong confrontation of ideas that often is consolidated into groups of activism, is usually understood as something negative. I, however, don’t see polarization as a bad thing and I tell why on this short resume.
Do you know when there is no polarization? When there is hegemony of thought, and this only happens when there is repression and curtailment. North Korea, Cuba, Communism. Those are some good examples of hegemony of thought. What happens is that until very little time ago, the left-wing way of thinking was hegemonic, due to the penetration in the media, in education, in academia. Nobody dared to speak against the left. Today this has changed, the people got tired of hearing how they must think and how to live by a handful of elitists who see themselves as the people’s spokespersons. Hence the polarization.
In other words, in our present context, polarization is the hegemony of the left being questioned. Of course the left would not accept this peacefully and what we now see are attempts of all kinds to inhibit the flow of ideas that somehow come into confrontation with the dominant discourse of the left.

Hamilton Furtado