Polarization of the debates: who wins?

Do you know Charlie Kirk? Regardless of our opinion of his ideas, it is a phenomenon. The formula behind its success is rather simple. He shows up on American campuses, sets up a marquee, sets up two microphones, sits down and invites people to challenge him on his political positions. Because yes, Charlie Kirk is a Republican who supports Trump and who defends positions against abortion, against immigration, against the LGBTQ+ communities, etc. His team films the debates and shares them on social networks.

The formula is effective. Watching two people argue is perfect for a platform like TikTok. Then, you have to give it to him, Charlie Kirk is a good debater. I'm not saying he's right, I'm saying he's mastered the art of debate. At least, this pseudosporting version where the goal is not to push the thinking further, but just to score points by stopping the other person.

I even think that's why he often annoys me. These panels never take the debate further. There is no exchange of ideas. No opening. He only scores goals by cornering people less well prepared than him and who master rhetoric less well than him. It's just a show.

Except it's a show paying for him. When he founded Turning Point USA in 2012, an organization that aims to turn out the right-wing vote among young people, it was a nobodyas they say south of the border. Today, his TikTok account has 3.6 million subscribers, he hosts a radio show in a Christian media outlet, he gives conferences and is a guest of honor at Republican conventions. He became a public figure.

Today, he reportedly owns three properties worth over $1 million. According to a survey ofAssociated Pressin 2016, he would have declared an income of $27,000, while in 2021, he would have declared an income of $407,000. The turnover of Turning Point USA was $39 million in 2020 and would have accumulated more than $79 million in contributions in 2022. That's a big business.

While Charlie Kirk becomes a millionaire by attacking the rights of trans people, rights organizations are struggling to survive, like TransEstrie which avoided closure in 2022 thanks to an emergency fund of $34,000 and funding of 126 000 $.

This shows that there are ideas that are more profitable than others to defend.

I think

Yes, the debates are tense, but sometimes I wonder if the biggest factor is really changes in society or just because there are those who have everything to gain from the debate getting out of hand. In our society, discord pays off.

The personal gain doesn't have to be financial either. Sometimes, it's to get re-elected, increase your subscriptions on social networks or just out of pride. Individualism encourages polarization.

During an interview with Dutyliterature professor and essayist Patrick Moreau deplored the “sacralization of individual opinion.” That is to say, in our capitalist society, we tend to “confuse freedom of expression with the truth.” In other words, an argument and an opinion are not the same thing.

An argument “must be coherent, logical, based on something objective,” adds the professor. Whereas an opinion is just an opinion. I may find that eating a lobster is disgusting, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it's edible.

In a column published in the magazine The Booksellersphilosophy professor and author Véronique Grenier rightly emphasized that philosophy, through its “dialogical nature” allows us to “develop empathy for the ideas of others”.

She adds, further, that the idea “is not to accept everything and not judge, but to see how we can talk about it and aspire to fruitful conversations during which everyone can feel seen, heard, considered”. According to the Sherbrookoise, this posture would help thwart the polarization of ideas.

However, she concedes that it is demanding. Challenging. Destabilizing. It can even be frustrating. “It seems that our brain prefers ease and what is comfortable,” she emphasizes. Yes, thinking is sometimes exhausting.

With the popularity of marathons, we often hear people talk about the joy and pride of having made the extra effort to succeed in finishing the race, of having surpassed themselves. The same joy exists when we make the extra intellectual effort that allows us to go all the way and surpass ourselves, to “know that we are more capable than we think,” as Véronique Grenier says.

To return, after this immense digression, to this question that everyone asks: how to successfully talk to each other? By refusing the easy way. By avoiding shortcuts. By stopping putting your ego ahead of the common good.

There is this phrase that I really like: “we are the traffic”. We are not caught in traffic, we are part of it, we feed it. In the same way, we are polarization. It's up to us to do better.

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