Fifteen years ago you’d have been hard pressed to hear the word ‘binary’ in casual conversation. These days it’s commonplace, as is its opposite, non-binary.
Binary refers to something made of two things and you’ve most likely heard it used in relation to gender. There’s the idea that there are only two genders – male and female – which leaves no room for people who don’t fit into either category, hence the term non-binary.
While many of us have moved past the gender role binary, too many of us have embraced another binary, to our detriment: the political binary.
Thankfully in Australia the left/right binary is not as pronounced as in some other countries. Our last election saw most voters drift to the centre. But as anyone who has to endure any time spent on social media can testify, binary thinking is an epidemic. ‘If you’re not with us you’re against us’ permeates too many corners of public discourse.
For instance, if you are critical of anything the Israeli government does you’re antisemitic, even if you’re Jewish. If you question any aspect of Queer Theory you’re anti-trans, even if you’re a trans person. If you query immigration levels you’re racist, even if you’re an immigrant. If you support taxing the wealthy you’re a woke, antifa terrorist, even if you’ve never been to a protest in your life. And if you’re a member of one political party, you must oppose any policy put forward by the ‘other’ political party, even if it’s good policy.
No one benefits from binary politics, in fact it diminishes us. Of course media moguls and billionaires, the point-zero-zero-one percent of the population, love binary politics because it wedges us and makes money for them. Divide and conquer! And it distracts us from the real causes of growing inequality.
In order to thrive we need community, and in order for community to flourish we need to listen to different points of view. We need to open our minds and explore nuance.
As someone much smarter than me said recently; ‘ask yourself when you last changed your mind about something.’ If you can’t remember then maybe you’ve fallen into the trap of binary politics.
