The Division Game
It was exactly 3:00AM on November 5, 2024 — Election Day. I woke up for one of my old-man pisses and had one of those middle-of-the-night realizations. Maybe we have all — left, right, centrist or independent fence-sitters — been pawns in The Division Game. But why? Was it all to suit the fancies of one man? A Russian dictator? A real estate mogul turned reality TV star turned reality former U.S. President? A media tycoon? A tech billionaire? Sleepy Joe Biden? A Chinese premiere?
I haven’t wanted to talk with or be around people who disagree with me. People who disagree with me haven’t wanted to talk with or be around people like me. We can’t have civil conversations. If we keep fighting like hell, we’re not going to have a country anymore.
I felt dirty, horrible, horrible. For calling the other side dirty, horrible, horrible. But was I just a pawn in The Division Game too? Just like everyone else? Why? Who actually benefits? The media, whose ratings have been sky high? The tech companies who use our endless doom-scrolling to figure out how to target ads to our profiles? The cynical politicians that see an opportunity to exploit our differences and disagreements? Who convince us to call each other fascists or vermin? The corporations who can use the years of crises and distraction to inflate the cost of everything we need to survive? Inflation that is eating us all alive?
Is dividing us all just an effort to conquer us all? Is this all just a game to the wealthy and powerful? The elites? Could the election even be honest at this point? With so many thumbs on so many scales? With so many billions and billions flowing through the hands of the rich, powerful, influential? With the foreign interference? The hacking? The conspiracies? The disinformation?
Who to believe? What to believe? Who should I be against? Who should I stand with? What should I stand for? The dividers? The profiteers? The influencers? Who has my interests at heart? Who has our interests at heart? The pawns? Are we allowing ourselves to be divided and conquered by buying into the idea that there are enemies within? That they are among us? That they will destroy our country if we let them? Take away all our rights? But who is them in this case? Isn’t it just us? Have we been convinced into this us vs. them mentality by whomever on either side? That we can’t trust each other? That we can’t work together? That we are so different? That we can’t get along? Can’t share the pie? That there aren’t enough pieces for everyone? Just plenty for those who can figure out how to exploit us? How not to be a pawn?
How do we step out of the game? And not just become a spectator? Can we take back our attention? Choose who we listen to, who we trust? Turn off the fake news? Think about the influence they have over us? Are they calling for division? Are they selling us a particular reality where we are special or chosen? Are they playing the game with us as their pawns? Can we stop thinking in us-vs.-them, zero-sum, winner-take-all ways? Could we try a new social experiment? Where we realize us and them are just all us? Where there might be more for everyone if we can find ways to work together? Where we realize if the winner takes all, the rest of us lose? Where we start to question the people who are winners? Or who claim to be? Is there a way to end The Division Game?