A HOUSE DIVIDED: PUBLISHED IN A GROUP OF NEWSPAPERS AS THE EDITORIAL OF THE WEEK.

A House Divided

Robert Isenberg

Some say the country has never been more divided. Some point to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as divisional candidates. I’m not so sure that the situation is any different than it always has been. One just has to look under the covers.

  A recent article in the Wall Street Journal is entitled “Why Facts Don’t Unify Us.” It states, once people have made up their mind on whatever theory, the last thing they want is to be bothered by the facts. Some of our preferences are based on various ideologies, however recent research shows that even scientific proof means absolutely nothing in changing minds.

  A few years ago I read an article in the W.S. J. that mentioned that Dunkin Donuts offered $200 to Starbucks patrons to try Dunkin Donuts and visa versa. The Starbucks clientele generally responded by saying, “Puh-lease.” Dunkin Donuts loyalists were more outspoken. Some of them commented on the Starbucks layout, “If I wanted to sit on a couch, I’d have stayed home!” Others rebelled at the Starbuckian language. Many commented that they didn’t know what Vente meant and they didn’t want to know either. Talk about divides!

 I recently noted that there is a club that has been meeting for over forty years to celebrate Mr Peanut. These people call themselves Nuts. They actually have annual conventions where they meet once a year to collect and trade memorabilia. They consider Mr Peanut a dapper dude. He will strut around in different costumes depending on the weather and the location. He is never seen without his cane. It has been said that at one of these memorabilia parties a Mr. Peanut cane will sell for over a thousand dollars. It’s difficult to find fault with the name Nuts.

  Not to be outdone a raspberry jam club formulated about ten years ago. The Nuts have no use for the Jammers as the jam club refers to their membership. The Nuts say the Jammers are just a seedy bunch. The Jammers also insist it should be jam & peanut butter sandwiches not peanut butter and jam. Their goal is to come up with a character to take on Mr. Peanut and they are sticking to it.

 If we think that there is a bitter rivalry between Boston & NYC over the Red Sox and Yankees then listen up regarding Le-Clair Iowa, and Fort Byron,Ill. These two cities have a tug of war every year worth $8,000 to the winning city. The W.S.J. makes light of this rivalry with such corny comments as losing to Illinois at Tug Of War puts Iowa at the “end of its rope.” They also go on as to what a ‘’stretch” all this excitement is. This all started as a friendly rivalry, it’s anything but now. Hateful bumper stickers have evolved. Rumors of cheating have emerged. In the case of the Red Sox it’s basically a case of rooting for strangers, this tug is personal. 

  This divisional madness first came to my attention many years ago. We joined a swim club that had an extremely large pool.  At the time our two daughters were quite young and just learning to swim. As a result we only went to the shallow end of the pool to accommodate our kids. On one beautiful afternoon my children were away.. I decided to try the other side of the pool. I pulled up a chair and overheard a conversation by two people who had seemingly just met.

  It started with,”Nice day isn’t it?”

  The second person responded, ”Yes it certainly is.”

  First speaker, “It’s so lovely over here.”

  Second speaker,  “The trees are higher on this side. The shade is so delightful.”

  “Yes, and do you notice that even the people on this side are much nicer.”