The worst thing about US politics these days is Republicans and Democrats. Keep in mind that these are private organizations that talk about their members doing public service while their primary purpose is to further entrench their own interests while making money. Too many individuals believe they have to pick one of these two teams even though there’s very little room for nuance once you pick a side.
While this isn’t a post about politics, that example is perfect for what happens when you start dividing things into two teams. Almost all sports are about two teams facing off and having a winner and loser. Wars are usually positioned as two sides fighting between good and evil with winners and losers.
There is power in the story of us versus them. It instantly gives individuals a framing for their behavior and an understanding of who they are competing against. Even without additional direction, this framing gives momentum to future actions in the direction of us versus them and striving for “victory.”
Most things in life are not zero-sum, us-versus-them. It is almost never advantageous to divide up into two teams and go head-to-head. Staging pseudo-gladiator style matches between people may feel like something gets accomplished but more is lost. Battles don’t build a long-term culture, they focus on the short-term. Battles destroy the bonds between large numbers.
Two teams take away our ability to focus on nuance. Nuance is important.