This is all I hear when otherwise reasonable people discuss politics.

Which side is the right side? :)

not the other side! :-P

And not the left side, either.

dupe!

Dupes are cool. PandaWhale is more like Twitter than Reddit. :)

When we perceive someone as politically different from us, we don't give a crap about them:

http://www.thejuryexpert.com/2012/07/polar-opposites-empathy-does-not-extend-across-the-political-aisle/

I would be interested in this study being done in other countries, particularly countries where party affiliation is a bit more fluid.

Yeah, me too.

Indifference feels like an American reaction to difference.

Agreed. A binary is the worst. Us vs Them really lets people turns their brains off. Partisanship causes me physical pain.

Haven't American politics always been about partisanship?

Or is it somehow worse now than it used to be?

"As Americans head to the polls this November, their values and basic beliefs are more polarized along partisan lines than at any point in the past 25 years."

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2277/republicans-democrats-partisanship-partisan-divide-polarization-social-safety-net-environmental-protection-government-regulation-independents