I recently wrote a piece about political polarization for the site, The Liberal Patriot, titled “It’s all the other side’s fault.” That piece included some ideas I think are very important for understanding toxic conflict, but that are rarely discussed. For example, I think group differences are an important aspect of conflict; groups in conflict will always have various differences, and those differences mean that rage and fear will manifest in very different ways. These differences make it easy for people in both groups to find bad or extreme aspects about the quote “other side” that aren’t present for their own side. This in turn aids people in both groups in finding what seems like compelling, persuasive evidence that the toxic conflict they’re in is “all the other side’s fault.” No matter what your politics are, I think it’s important to understand conflict dynamics; when we lack a good understanding of how conflict works, we’ll tend to act in ways that further inflame and amplify the conflict — ironically, we’ll often act in ways that give more power and strength to our most angry and contemptuous opponents.
You can find The Liberal Patriot at liberalpatriot.com. This piece of mine was published September 19th 2025. If this topic interests you, you might like checking out that piece because it has quite a few resources linked from it. Here is the episode: