If, say, you're a highly partisan Republican, you will often look at corruption and acts of violence by your partisan opponents and say, That's just what the left does or That's what leftism leads to. Corruption and violence reveals the left's true nature. If a right-leaning extremist commits an act of violence or if a Republican is brazenly corrupt then the response is different.
It's impossible to ignore the tension in the air right now. Acts of political violence, heated debates, and deepening division leave many of us feeling bewildered, frustrated, and even helpless. In times like these, our instinct can be to double down on our perspective or point fingers outward. One of the drivers of polarization is the sense that acknowledging another group's struggles somehow diminishes our own. Humility, if we are open to it, offers another path.
Erika Stael von Holstein, 41, has been advising European institutions on science, technology, society, and democracy for two decades. She's the founder and director of Re-Imagine Europe, a think tank focused on depolarization. The Stockholm-born advisor has also promoted Nodes.eu, a European observatory of narratives against disinformation. Von Holstein is a member of the expert council on artificial intelligence convened by the Spanish government. This work brought her to Madrid, where she met with EL PAIS.
The heightened salience of identity in modern political discourse suggests an internalisation of the neoliberal view, reducing identities to consumer preferences.
The fallout had been predictable. Left-leaning media had picked up on the echoes of the strangers in their own country line from Enoch Powell's rivers of blood speech.
So, I would like to pray together with you. Let us pray together for this new mission, for the whole Church, for peace in the world, and let us also ask Mary, our Mother, for this special grace.
