The centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world
Yeats’ lines seem to have a particular resonance these days.
One of the most frequent laments about the state of modern politics is the rise of polarization. Where, people ask, is the spirit of compromise, the willingness to come together to get things done? Each side blames the polarization on the other. Those who feel trapped in No Man’s Land frequently point to the rise of social media with its separate closed ecosystems.
Adam Smith in The Theory of Moral Sentiments offers a different explanation for the polarization, an explanation which suggests there is nothing new under the sun.
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