The Nth-Word and M-Theory

Splice Today ^ | August 20, 2019 | Todd Seavey

[OddLane]

Turning every political conflict into an ethnic battle—no matter how hard one has to squint to see the ethnic element of it—not only corrodes our ability to deal with each other as full-fledged individuals but tends to destroy whatever hope there was of dealing with the more nuanced issues at hand.

I remember pitying Iraq a bit a decade ago when observers noted its political coalitions are almost always ethnic or tribal, with people voting for members of their own tribe. It’s getting harder to believe the U.S. will end up any other way, though.

Media figures such as CNN’s Chris Cuomo aren’t helping when they invent ethnic grievances on the spot. Called “Fredo” by a heckler—a reference to the dumber brother from The Godfather, with New York governor Andrew Cuomo presumably the smarter brother in this analogy—Chris blew a gasket and threatened to throw the heckler down a staircase, not a great way to prove you aren’t a gangster...