Irish Examiner view: Promote moderation passionately to deter polarisation

Pakistan traders burn burn a representation of the French flag during a protest against the publishing of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad they deem blasphemous on Monday. Pic: AP/Muhammad Sajjad

Polarisation, political, material, or philosophical, is one of the defining characteristics of our time. The evidence is all around us. 

Boris Johnson might not be prime minister of a deeply-divided, imploding Britain had he been challenged by a less divisive Labour leader than Jeremy Corbyn. Equally, Micheál Martin might not be Taoiseach if Sinn Féin did not, still, provoke such a visceral reaction among the great majority of voters.