Irresponsible politicians behind increasing social hostility

"Americans' hostility toward one another seems to be growing", New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote on Jan 13. "Something darker and deeper seems to be happening as well — a long-term loss of solidarity, a long-term rise in estrangement and hostility."

Two days later, a man pushed an Asian woman in front of an approaching train at the Times Square Station. The woman died on the spot and the man is facing criminal charges, the second violent death in the New York subway over two weeks.

It's good to see that the US media waking up to increasing hostility in US society, something borne out by facts：US residents have been driving more recklessly ever since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, more guns have been sold and more gun violence has taken place.

At the root of this hostility could be politicians. Soon after the pandemic broke out in 2020, US politicians immediately blamed China baselessly. When they failed to control the pandemic, they intensified their smearing of China.

The US democratic system was supposed to balance different ideas and interests, but US politicians turned it into a game of talk-shows at the cost of taxpayers' money. Democrats and Republicans do not see eye to eye on even making the wearing of face masks mandatory. 

Yet no politicians paid for the country's failed responses to the pandemic. A new set of politicians entered the White House last year, but they are still playing the same old tricks.

So when the number of daily infections rose to 1 million, common people saw no help from the politicians they elected. Though angry, they could not reach their leaders, so they turned hostile to each other.

Unless the politicians change, the hostility in US society will only get worse.

Brooks wrote that he does not know why hostility in society is rising. Maybe he and his fellow observers should look at higher ups in the society to find the answers.

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