The clustering of like-minded America

Bill Bishop is definitely on to something. Richard Florida writes a lot about this, as well. I do know that as an African-American man, I see rifts being created within the Black community, too. For example, I see more and more African-Americans who are coming out of the closet and affirming that they're atheists separating themselves from their overly religious brother and sisters. Also, Caribbean Blacks are increasingly choosing to live with other West Indians and so on. This is true in almost any major city. But I get the feeling that the younger generation might mix things up a bit. It all remains to be seen how it will pan out.

I agree. To me, this goes to the heart of the importance of the separation of church and state. When religion flows into politics it carries with it charged terms of good and evil. With one side claiming righteousness the other necessarily becomes evil if they don't convert.
I recall the horror I felt when President Bush famously labeled North Korea, Iran and Iraq "The Axis of Evil." In using the term "evil" he was trying to legitimize violence against a people out of the righteousness his beliefs. Killing evil is easier than killing people with different policies and views.

Excellent interview. The book is even better.

I identify as progressive, but I often wonder if we progressives bear particular responsibility for the current extent of polarization. Conservatives don't generally trumpet diversity and inclusivity as core values; we do. And yet, let's be honest: we often display withering contempt for those to our right. Bishop includes a great example from a Seattle alternative newspaper entitled "The Urban Archipelago: "Liberals, progressives, and Democrats do not live in a country that stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Canada to Mexico. We live on a chain of islands. We are citizens of the Urban Archipelago, the United Cities of America. We live on islands of sanity, liberalism, and compassion...And we are the real Americans. They - rural, red-state voters, the denizens of the exurbs - are not real Americans. They are rubes, fools, and hate-mongers." (p. 270)

"They" get contempt. And they don't seem to see the compassion. One of the challenges of 2008 will be how an extraordinary candidate like Obama can challenge progressive followers to stop with dismissive and condescending discourse about Americans different than us.

What a fascinating show this was! I look forward to reading the book. I've certainly heard that the rise of internet media and blogs means that people can choose their news from "unbiased" sources that match the seekers' own biases! But I'd never considered (naively?) that where I live and how I self-identify were dividing me from my fellow citizens. This became abundantly clear when I tried to discuss with friends and family how Obama's bitter comments could be construed as offensive when everyone I know and I myself agree with those comments almost wholeheartedly!

I now see that I've lived in a way that embodies Bishop's thesis, but I had no idea I was part of some cultural phenomenon. I just thought I was a black gay man who prefers living in the city to the rural area that I come from. When thinking about my friends and where I live in Washington, DC (the gayest zip code in the city) it makes clear why so many of the people I encounter seem the same to me, whether gay, straight, young, old, black, white, hispanic, man, or woman. A female co-worker once asked me how I react when women come on to me. I told her that it just doesn't happen. Maybe it does and I'm just oblivious, but on my weekends I live in gay world, surrounded by gay men and some straights who would never assume in any encounter with me that I am straight. That's such a a sweeping generalization, but I know that where I live and how I socialize, no one is going to assume at first that I'm straight, whether I'm with my partner or not. In fact, when people don't get it, I become annoyed, but that's because I forget I'm a member of a minority sometimes.

I appreciate the article and the topic, but I believe the research did not account for a couple significant factors. Gerrymandering, the manipulation of voting precinct boundaries, also has a significant impact on voting results. Furthermore, our current two party system does not reflect the real diversity of the populace. So, I assert that measuring voting outcome is not a good measure of like- or differing-mindedness.

Yes, we must end this "clustering." We must put Baptists in Congress to counterbalance all the Catholics. We must allow Cristians into the homes of Liberals to tell THEM how to raise THEIR kids. We must allow Christians to preach the gospel in Islamic mosques. Oh, yes. End clustering.