Racism is not necessarily as divisive in America as everyone wants to make it out to be.
What is divisive, though, is the shockingly over-facilitated idea of in-group bias amongst our political parties, races, genders, religions, or so-called "privilege" groups.
This bias speaks to this idea: if you're a woman, then you're a feminist. If you're white, then you're in support of "white America." If you're black, then you'll vote for the black presidential candidate.
Today's politics can easily be boiled down to "our side" combating "their side." It's a fostering of expected blind loyalty to your group, whatever it may be, with no question.
This plays into our deep seeded idea that 1) people should always conform to their specific people group's ideas and/or philosophies, and 2) that people apart from our specific people group are wrong and/or all believe the same thing.
This past week, on Saturday Night Live's season premiere, Kanye West was on-air as a guest star. At the end of the program, he wore a hat that read "Make America Great Again."
West, after the initial broadcast, began making a politically themed speech, voicing his favor for POTUS Donald Trump. The cast members seemed uncomfortable as he continued, you could see people shaking their heads in disagreement, and several "boo's" were emitted from the audience.
West said, "They're laughing at me. You heard them? They screamed at me. They bully me. They bullied me backstage. They said 'Don't go out there with that hat on.' They bullied me backstage. They bullied me."
West also claimed that on SNL, 90% of the people were liberal, which made things seem single-sided. Afterward, he thanked the network for "giving him the platform." Continuing, "I know some of y'all don't agree. But y'all be going at that man neck a lot, and I don't think it's actually that helpful."
Kayne West has already been taking heat since 2016, when he first voiced his support for Trump. Recently he tweeted, defending his position: "we have the right to independent thought."
Kim Kardashian West also came to his defense, calling the media out on their "demonizing" of her husband.
Kim makes a beyond valid point here. Backlash in the media had named West's tweets as "disturbing," and his behavior "erratic," consequently accusing him of having developed some sort of mental illness, JUST because he-- a mainstream, pop-culture influencer-- tweeted in favor of our President.
This proved not to even be an issue of a sort of assumed "race betrayal" (by his supporting of an assumed racist president), but a societal betrayal. The media, representing our society's ideals, preaches tolerance, freedom of expression, and acceptance. But, this only seems to apply if they want to tolerate you, appreciate your expression, or feel like you're actions or beliefs are acceptable.
"Be you! Stick it to the man! Voice your opinion! Be unique! Stand out!"
( — The loud voices of all progressives in literally all forms of media ever )
But then, Kanye West happens to voice an opinion that isn't the exact same as everyone else's, and their immediate reaction is shockingly not loving acceptance with open arms, but rather immediate and forceful accusations of mental illness. Because, if you believe differently than them, you must be legitimately insane. Obviously.
The “groupthink" ideal that is assumed Kanye should adhere to, is limited to same-social viewpoints.
Concerning his speech on SNL, Lana Del Ray was one of his fellow artists to criticize his choices, having the audacity to not only say "Trump becoming our president was a loss for the country," but that Kanye's "support of him is a loss for the culture."
She continues to then accuse him, along with Trump, of "extreme narcissism," which is also an accusation of a psychological condition. Which, consequently, is a serious statement that she chose to casually throw out, because it's of her opinion that Kanye West has voiced an opinion that deviates from her understood range of acceptance.
Chance the Rapper happened to tweet, seemingly in favor of Kanye's right to voice his support, "Black people don't have to be democrats."
We live in an overwhelmingly idealized society of free-thinking compared to the majority of the world. We are granted the rights to believe how we choose, say what we feel, and to do so without fear of persecution. Though, these rights are infringed on daily.
Exactly like in this particular instance, where Kanye West was restricted from speaking of his opinions on air, or people attempting to "bully" him into not wearing a certain article of politicized clothing— all things that were well within his rights as an American citizen. He was then viciously attacked in media for adhering to these rights, by simply voicing an opinion.
People need to understand and recognize three of these concepts within themselves.
That 1), being an active member of the projective media group that's telling people to "express" themselves, only to spit in the face of those people's opinions and beliefs as soon as they voice them, is not only counter-intuitive and hypocritical, but also unintelligent.
2) You are not required to conform to a group's ideas simply because they are "your" group. We live in an America that constantly complains about racial and religious separation and intolerance, but then continues to feed into it themselves, ultimately creating a prejudice that wasn't even there to start with.
3) There's a difference between having an opinion that's actually yours and agreeing with the seemingly "overall" or "unanimous" opinion of your political, racial, or religious party. We are too quick to snap judgment on people, events, and ideas simply because that's just what our group is doing.
Assuming that either your "in-group's" ideas are correct/worth adhering to without question, or that someone in your "out-group" has to/does have the same beliefs as their majority, is simply as lightweight as society's misunderstanding of ingenuity in the first place.
