in-depth
panorama november 2023 // laduepublications.com
Bursting the
Bubble Assessing the origins and impacts of social polarization in America PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY VINCENT HSIAO & ARTI JAIN
STORY BY ALZHRAA MAHMOUD, SYLVIA HANES & FRANK CHEN
T
HEY GATHER IN the shadows of twilight. Armed with flags and signs, they assemble, at first in odd groups and clusters, then rapidly into formidable masses as the hours tick by. Across the street, an equally large crowd is forming. A jeer sounds from the depths of one of the crowds and is met with an equally ugly answer from the other side. The crowds begin to chant. Tension crackles between the two groups like the whiplash of lightning, arcing and hissing, jumping from protester to protester, who stand forebodingly like heavy thunderclouds in the dark of night. These factions are opposites, enemies. They have nothing in common but the searing red flare of anger — and beneath it, hatred, as deep and immovable as the roots of mountains.
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