We hear it every day.
“It’s because of politics.”
“It’s because of race.”
“It’s because of gender.”
“It’s because of religion.”
I don’t think those are the real problems.
I think they’re symptoms.
The deeper problem is that we’ve become a society divided into different classes—not just economically, but intellectually. We have different levels of education, different levels of discipline, different levels of personal responsibility, and different levels of critical thinking.
Where you’re born matters.
The environment you grow up in matters.
The opportunities you’re given matter.
Too many children are raised in neighborhoods where violence is normal, drugs are everywhere, schools are failing, and stable families are increasingly rare. Too many grow up without fathers. Too many never have someone who teaches them discipline, accountability, respect, or how to think for themselves.
That doesn’t mean they’re destined to fail.
It means they begin life carrying a heavier burden than others.
The tragedy is that instead of helping people rise above those circumstances, we’ve built a culture that rewards excuses over accountability and outrage over understanding.
Somewhere along the way, people stopped thinking for themselves.
Instead of asking questions, they repeat slogans.
Instead of researching an issue, they repeat whatever they heard online.
Instead of listening, they react.
People are willing to ruin reputations, threaten violence, destroy property, or even throw away their own future over issues they haven’t taken five minutes to honestly investigate.
That isn’t intelligence.
It’s herd mentality.
And it’s becoming one of the greatest threats to a free society.
I know what hardship looks like.
I grew up in poverty.
I was bullied.
I became addicted to drugs.
I’ve experienced abuse, betrayal, loss, and more adversity than I ever should have.
But I refuse to let those experiences become excuses.
I don’t blame society for every mistake I’ve made.
I don’t blame strangers for my past.
I don’t wake up looking for someone to hate.
Despite everything, I was still taught right from wrong.
I was taught discipline.
I was taught manners.
I was taught to respect my fellow man and woman—even when I disagreed with them.
Your past explains you.
It does not excuse you.
At some point, every person has to decide whether they’re going to continue the cycle or become the one who breaks it.
What disturbs me today is how quickly people judge each other.
You’re hated because of your skin color.
You’re hated because you’re a man.
You’re hated because you’re a woman.
You’re hated because of who you voted for.
You’re hated because you refuse to repeat what everyone else is saying.
That isn’t progress.
It’s tribalism.
I shouldn’t feel uncomfortable walking into public wondering if someone already hates me simply because of the color of my skin, because I’m a man, or because I hold different political beliefs.
Neither should anyone else.
The media doesn’t help.
Conflict sells.
Fear sells.
Division sells.
An angry population is easier to manipulate than one capable of critical thought.
While people scream about tyranny, many fail to recognize how their own behavior helps build it.
Every demand to silence opposing voices.
Every attempt to censor disagreement.
Every emotional reaction that replaces reason.
Every refusal to engage with facts.
Every person who blindly follows the crowd.
Each one moves us another step toward a society that willingly trades freedom for surveillance, control, and dependency.
History has shown us where that road ends.
What concerns me even more is that we’re ignoring the real crises happening around us.
The real epidemic isn’t simply political division.
It’s addiction.
It’s untreated mental illness.
It’s broken families.
It’s hopelessness.
It’s people desperately searching for identity in politics, ideology, or social movements because they’ve never learned who they actually are.
You can’t force someone to change.
No law can create character.
No government program can manufacture purpose.
People change when they decide they’ve had enough.
What we can do is offer help.
We can build stronger families.
We can rebuild communities.
We can teach responsibility instead of excuses.
We can teach children how to think instead of what to think.
We can encourage curiosity instead of conformity.
And yes, in my opinion, many colleges have shifted away from teaching students how to reason independently and toward encouraging ideological conformity. Education should expose people to competing ideas, challenge assumptions, and strengthen their ability to think critically—not simply reinforce one political worldview.
Thinking for yourself doesn’t mean you’ll always be right.
It means you’re willing to question.
It means you’re willing to listen.
It means you’re willing to admit when you’re wrong.
It means you’re willing to change your mind when the evidence demands it.
Most importantly, it means refusing to surrender your mind to the crowd.
Because the moment you stop thinking for yourself, someone else will gladly do your thinking for you.
And history has never been kind to societies that willingly gave that power away.
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