ETA: I said most of this in the comments but to save people the scrolling I’ll say it here too.
This can be about elections but it isn’t exclusive to elections. If it wasn’t true between elections, I don’t think the situation would exist during elections.
The meme is specifically about the difference between the group that isn’t pretending to be good (100% evil) and the group that uses the other group as a threat to avoid pressure to become less evil themselves.
It does not offer a solution. It does not tell people what they should or could do. I think the problem is very broad and requires a diversity of tactics specific to local conditions, not a snappy easy fix that fits well in a meme. It does involve being able to discuss the parts of the machine that keeps the machine churning tho.
“Dude, your let’s been completely severed. I think we need to cauterize it or something.”
“What? You don’t know what you’re doing!”
“Its that or we rub some dirt in it and you ‘walk it off like a man’ or something”
“Well if we do the second one, I’ll either bleed out anyway or die of infection. But burning my leg is going to cause a whole bunch of damage, and I still might get an infection. So, neither. I’m not picking either. It’s fix my leg or nothing for me.”