The only people who think republicans and democrats are exactly the same have an IQ of 80.
The "both sides" meme was funny when jon stewart was doing it in 2008. It has run its course.
The "both sides" meme was funny when jon stewart was doing it in 2008. It has run its course.
It didn't even occur to me that it was saying republicans and democrats are the same. That's just ridiculous ;-)
Edit: To clarify there's good evidence that people overestimate the degree to which people on the other side of the political divide hold extreme views by about a factor of two. We genuinely are less different than we think. It's not necessary for people to be the same for this to be true.
Where can I read more about that evidence?
Because ~70 million of my countrymen have voted for a convicted rapist.
If accurate, I'd say "only about 30%" of each side having extreme views is quite concerning, regardless of anyone's perceptions.
Real differences in policy still matter:
https://isps.yale.edu/news/2026-09-09-political-polarization...
What is easier to change than people's opinions, is the two party political system which tends to resolve such questions to one of the two extremes based on one side achieving a tiny majority, rather than to the average which is usually a lot more sensible.
And surely you can agree that each side has key issues they feel very strongly about (abortion on the left, guns on the right) and again, think the other side's view on said issues are utterly disgusting, right?
And SURELY you can agree that gerrymandering has occurred at various times in the past, from both sides, can't you? For example, take a look at the map of Illinois congressional districts[0]. Perfectly sensible districts here, yessir!
The low IQ take is pretending there aren't places where both sides do in fact behave the same way.
0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois%27s_congressional_dis...
But Gerry died in the nineteenth century. This practice is almost as old as the United States of America itself. I would say it's as bad as if the US still had slavery, or still had capital punishment, but oh yeah it still has both of those too. Do better.
Inmates are frequently forced to work for pennies.
Mandatory "Penal labour" isn't chattel slavery but it would still be recognised as slavery in any modern understanding.