The Politics Of A Football Game

 That's soccer for you Americans:)

Last week we had city government elections. In our city we had 16 parties, about the half of them only active at the local level. In the USA you have Democrats and Republicans and that's it. I'm afraid it can create a sort of a tunnel vision, when you are either for Team A or Team B, akin to a football game.

I see it every time I read an online discussion on any issue. Both sides will talk past each other and insult one another, much as football supporters do during a game. It doesn't matter if Team A member suddenly agrees with what Team B says, because it's not about the message but about supporting your team.

An example is Donald Trump promoting the vaccines. His supporters who are mostly anti vaxx will just ignore this message and keep writing fan fiction about Trump being secretly on their side, while his enemies will keep screaming how the whole pandemic was his fault. 

Or the current events in Ukraine. Republican politicians are among the biggest warmongers but the other side keeps accusing them of secretly working for Russia (I mean how ridiculous can you get?) while anti-war Republicans on social media totally ignore it and keep accusing Biden of wishing a WWIII. 

I may be wrong, but the USA strikes me as a very divided country, which I'm sure can't be all that good. It also gives ground to the rise of the most weird conspiracy theories and turns anything, from clothes, to diet, to hairstyles into a political issue where everyone is expected to take sides and fanatically support his chosen team.

Take the diet, for instance. People may have different preferences in what they eat. From the scientific point of view, Med diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables and accent on olive oil, fish and moderate consumption of red wine comes on top year after year. But apparently it's too much common sense, so we now have 2 camps, militant vegans and militant keto/carnivores. Both suggest very restrictive style of eating and both tie it to politics, left wing and right wing. 

While I disagree with vegans, I find the other side just as ridiculous. Vegans will try and interpret any research as calling all animal products a poison (just look into what they are saying about dairy, when it's proven that fermented dairy, especially something like low fat yogurt is good for you), while the keto crowd will flat out deny any connection between high amount of saturated fat and negative health consequences and tell you not to eat carbs even though there is  a huge difference between fast food carbs and something like cabbage or apples.

Many of these online personalities promoting a certain lifestyle are just paid influencers who are making money off you, so it makes sense to research their claims instead of blindly following someone you perceive as one of your team. Obviously, it's true not only about food issues but about anything else.