Intolerance and the Cultural Wars in America

   I have grown increasingly aware and disturbed regarding the rise of Intolerance among the various components of the American People to thoughts, ideas and belief systems that do not seem to conform with their own. Although this is a Global issue and has been the norm rather than the exception in most eras in the US and in other World Cultures, I believe that increased access to Information,extensive Media Penetration, rapidly accerating technology and the "Shrinking of the Globe" ( by internet or travel) coupled with increasing US multiculturalism have actually fueled a Closure of the American Mind rather than the expected average American becoming more a Citizen of the World.
    I grew up and have lived the vast Majority of my life in the American South. I was a child in the 1960's
so missed much awareness of the Social upheavals of that era. Until the rise of Cable TV, the Internet(essentially the advent of the Information Age) , influx of Non-European Immigrants,  do I believe that the Cohesion of America began to fray in this fashion.
   The terrorist incidents of 9/11 shook many to the very core, and the Public and Private Response to this "War on Terror" contributed greatly to a need for Americans to engage the World..not as Partners but as potential or actual enemies.
   The "Circling of the Wagons" among mainstream Americans to Actual and Perceived Danger is a fairly normal initial Societal or Group response. However, the misuse of this aspect of Human Group Behaviour by those with agendas not in the Spirit of Uniting America, such as the Fearmongering in the Political and Journalistic Arenas has led to  degeneration and fragmentation, which weakens our society and nation.
The meaning of what it is to be Liberal or Conservative, Republican or Democrat, Religious or Non-Religious is so skewed and polarized that the confusion this engenders just greatens the divide. You are either a supporter of FOX News or CNN,  for example.
     The intolerance of members of either side of these Ideological Warzones make establishing a Middle Ground nearly impossible at present. People seem to show an unwillingness or inability to look reflectively upon the beliefs of the other. I do not think it is an unwarranted fear to think that this Country could slide into increasing divisiveness in which the US could plumment into a somewhat passive death spiral, Revolution or Civil War before mid-century.
   America was once a Revolutionary society that presented the world with a Model for the Rights of Men and Justice. Some of this was always a sham...but the idea of America as a Shining Beacon to the outside World is tarnished and unless we see fit to understand, tolerate and  reach out to All of our Fellow Citizens, that Beacon may be finally and tragically extinguished.