Everything about our country has changed after the Industrial Revolution, for better or worse. We were introduced to the idea that we could have anything we wanted at any point in time. What began as mail order delivery and radio news is now Amazon same-day delivery and mass media, with more reports than you could ever imagine delving into. There are so many perspectives, opinions, and research that it’s hard to distinguish what is based on truth and what is fabricated or misconstrued. There’s plenty of martyrs to glorify and even more scapegoats to blame for a myriad of problems. While many blame political parties, religions, or immigrants for dividing society, the true root of polarization resides in economic manipulation and class exploitation, which use disinformation and authoritarianism to keep people divided.

Everyone has their biases and often seeks out news outlets that will give it to them. On the Left, we have acceptance of all sorts of individuals, pushing the “woke agenda,” and on the Right, we see many fearing losing their identity as Americans due to the rapid cultural changes. What certainly doesn’t help is the spread of disinformation that turns those fears into hate. It starts with a small, potentially accurate statement like “Trans people are dangerous in sports,” this escalates to they are dangerous in the women’s restroom, then they are just dangerous. When Charlie Kirk died, the media spiraled with falsehoods through social media and major news outlets. The New York Times intervened, saying,

a right-wing influencer who posted a screenshot of a leaked internal message from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives alleging that law enforcement officials found gun cartridges at the scene engraved with “transgender and antifascist ideology.” The post was viewed millions of times. Two hours later [sic] it moved fully into the mainstream,[sic] when The Wall Street Journal published a story that purported to confirm the post, quoting the same internal bulletin.

This turned out to be completely false, but the damage to the Trans community was already done once the right-wing media found their martyr. This is just one of many examples of how right-wing media manipulates its audience towards hate and division. This hate is then seen as righteous, as they believe they are the victims of the “woke agenda” when, really, the hate oppresses many, if not all, minorities. Conservatives and republicans are not bad overall, as we cannot victim-blame them for falling for disinformation. We also cannot absolve left-wing media, as they encourage their audience to think the Right is full of bad people. Republicans have some solid reasons for being Right, like wanting to protect our country from crime and drugs when it comes to immigration. It’s just unfortunate that they are fed over exaggerations of the truth and manipulated to think that minorities are to blame for their troubles.

One of the most obvious ways polarization manifests is through the treatment of minorities, especially around immigration. Throughout history, there have been claims that they steal jobs, commit high volumes of crime, and take money from the government without paying taxes. With help from the media, many people have fallen for these lies. Economic Policy Institute analyzed the Bureau of Labor Statistics and found that the unemployment rate for U.S.-born workers averaged 3.6% in 2023, the lowest rate on record. An economist from the University of California, Riverside, found that immigrants, documented and undocumented, are 33% less likely to commit a crime than citizens. Finally, the Tax Policy Center tells us that documented and undocumented pay federal, state, and local taxes while receiving few benefits. Even after debunking all the myths, they are still used as the main scapegoats in our society. Lately, this has resulted in immense violence towards people of color and anybody who speaks out against ICE and the Trump Administration. One of the many crimes ICE has committed was body slamming an elderly carwash owner to the ground after he came to show the employees work authorizations. He was badly injured and sent to the hospital. After countless reports of ICE detaining and using violence against not just immigrants but against US citizens, the manipulated right wing will still defend them and blame the scapegoats. 

The media constantly blames the scapegoats, which has resulted in the desensitization of violence and has led to the glorification of ICE and the overreaching use of the national guard. The Trump administration deployed National Guard units to democratic cities such as Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Chicago, and Memphis, with many more pending. The Trump Administration wanted to side-step Oregon’s block that prevented Trump from deploying their national guard to Portland by sending California’s instead. California and Oregon officials are fighting the Trump administration right now in court to stop this. Portland is not known for its violent crime rates at all; in fact, crime has had an overall decline in violent crime from 7.3 per thousand people in 2024 to 3.9 in 2025. The Council on Criminal Justice shows statistics proving that violent crime has also been trending downwards in Chicago. The media portrays protests in these cities are disingenuous and violent when, really, it’s ICE and the National Guard that escalate the situation by using unnecessary violence and aggression against peaceful protesters. Time Magazine recently reported on the military style raid, saying: 

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker accused the federal agents of separating children from their parents, zip-tying their hands, and detaining them in “dark vans” for hours. Videos of the raid show flashbang grenades erupting on the street, followed by residents of the building—children among them—being led to a parking lot across the street. Photos of the aftermath show toys and shoes littering the apartment hallways that were left in the chaos as people were pulled from their beds by the operation that included FBI and Homeland Security agents.

They broke apart families, destroyed their belongings, and on top of all of that, DHS released footage of the raid depicting it as a war-torn action movie. Many people are outraged about the raid, but there are still die-hard MAGA supporters who cheer it on. This reflects classic traits of fascism like “Powerful, often exclusionary, populist nationalism centered on a cult of a redemptive, ‘infallible’ leader who never admits mistakes,” and “Rampant cronyism and corruption. Loyalty to the leader is paramount and often more important than competence.”.

Given the deep divisions fueled by disinformation, prejudice, and nationalism, how do we reunite as a nation? We develop class consciousness, an awareness of our class or rank in society. If we zoom out to get a bird’s-eye view of the matter, we can see what’s been hiding in plain sight. While we squabble, billionaires take advantage of our distraction. Here are some statistics and facts to elaborate on this accusation. Oxfam states, “We call them monopoly men—billionaires that lead corporations that largely control markets, set the rules and terms of exchange with other companies and workers, and set higher prices without losing business.” If monopolies like Amazon are everyone’s go-to online shopping center, there is no competition, leading them to overprice cheap products and rake in millions in profits. Or we could address the elephant in the room of the massive tax cuts given to billionaires. Instead of contributing more to the economy with their overflowing wealth, they are given tax cut after tax cut. The National Bureau of Economic Research states: 

In our benchmark estimate, the total effective tax rate—all taxes paid relative to economic income—of the top 0.0002% (approximately the “top 400”) averaged 24% in 2018–2020 compared with 30% for the full population and 45% for top labor income earners. This lower total effective tax rate on the wealthiest is substantially driven by low taxable individual income relative to economic income. 

Another thing they hide behind closed doors is their impact on our planet. Springer Science and Business Media did a study that found “We find that two-thirds (one-fifth) of warming is attributable to the wealthiest 10% (1%), meaning that individual contributions are 6.5 (20) times the average per capita contribution.” With their data centers, factories, and drilling, these monopolies are actively killing Earth, but they remain willingly ignorant to continue filling their pockets. We must come together and recognize it was never about what side you’re on, but what tax bracket you fall under.

At the end of the day, we are all affected by economic cronyism, lack of healthcare access, and the threat to free speech. We need to accumulate class consciousness instead of bickering over who’s right or wrong. We cannot victim-blame the working-class Right for falling for the manipulation used to distract them, and we also cannot condone hate from either party. Until we can understand that the division serves the interests of the elites, we will continue to fight the wrong battles. The future of America depends not on what side you choose, but on uniting as an entire class against the elites that benefit from our estrangement. 

Works Cited

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Constantine, Katie. “Top 5 Ways Billionaires Are Bad for the Economy.” Www.oxfamamerica.org, 15 Jan. 2023, www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories/top-5-ways-billionaires-are-bad-for-the-economy/.

Costa, Daniel, and Heidi Shierholz. “Immigrants Are Not Hurting U.S.-Born Workers: Six Facts to Set the Record Straight.” Economic Policy Institute, 20 Feb. 2024, www.epi.org/blog/immigrants-are-not-hurting-u-s-born-workers-six-facts-to-set-the-record-straight/.

Council of Criminal Justice. “Crime in Chicago: What You Need to Know – Council on Criminal Justice.” My WordPress, 26 Aug. 2025, counciloncj.org/crime-in-chicago-what-you-need-to-know/.

Dunbar, Marina. “At Least 11 Detained after Protesters and Police Clash Outside Chicago Ice Center.” The Guardian, The Guardian, 17 Oct. 2025, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/17/ice-chicago-protesters-arrests-broadview-facility. Accessed 18 Oct. 2025.

Girgis, Lauren. “As Trump Ramps up National Guard Threats, What’s Crime Really like in Portland and Seattle?” The Seattle Times, 6 Oct. 2025, www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/as-trump-ramps-up-guard-threats-whats-crime-like-in-portland-seattle/. Accessed 18 Oct. 2025.

GLAAD. “Fact Sheet for Reporters: Debunking “Trans Terrorism” and Other False Claims in High-Profile Crimes.” GLAAD | GLAAD Rewrites the Script for LGBTQ Acceptance., GLAAD, 8 Jan. 2025, glaad.org/debunking-trans-terrorism/.

“Immigrants Do Not Commit More Crimes in the US, despite Fearmongering – American Immigration Council.” American Immigration Council, 2024, www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/immigrants-do-not-commit-more-crimes-in-the-us-despite-fearmongering/.

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Louallen, Doc. “79-Year-Old US Citizen Claims ICE Agents Body-Slammed Him at His Business, Seeks $50M.” ABC News, 27 Sept. 2025, abcnews.go.com/US/79-year-us-citizen-claims-ice-agents-body/story?id=125978834.

Polgreen, Lydia. “Opinion | the Fallout from Charlie Kirk’s Killing Reveals Two Truths of Trumpism.” Nytimes.com, The New York Times, 19 Sept. 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/09/19/opinion/kirk-killing-trans-trump.html.

Raymond, Nate. “US Judge Extends Block on Trump Deploying National Guard in Portland, Oregon.” Reuters, 15 Oct. 2025, www.reuters.com/world/us-judge-extends-block-trump-deploying-national-guard-portland-oregon-2025-10-15/.

Schneid, Rebecca. ““Military-Style” ICE Raid on Chicago Apartment Building Shows Escalation in Trump’s Crackdown.” TIME, Time, 4 Oct. 2025, time.com/7323334/ice-raid-chicago-pritzker-trump/.

Springer Science and Business Media LLC. “High-Income Groups Disproportionately Contribute to Climate Extremes Worldwide.” Dntb.gov.ua, 2025, ouci.dntb.gov.ua/en/works/leLLAkRg/?utm_source=chatgpt.com. Accessed 18 Oct. 2025.

Tax Policy Center. “Yes, Undocumented Immigrants Pay Taxes—and Receive Few Tax Benefits.” Tax Policy Center, 17 Dec. 2024, taxpolicycenter.org/fiscal-facts/yes-undocumented-immigrants-pay-taxes-and-receive-few-tax-benefits.