The fever pitch of politics has reached many previously unreachable areas in the last decade. The latest to fall is the politicization of disaster relief, as FEMA has come under fire for various reasons, some legitimate and others… perhaps less so.

Criticism is fair.

Of government agencies? Doubly so.

But criticism cannot give way to violence — the threat of which looms large in hurricane-ravaged regions of Appalachia. It was recently reported by the Washington Post that National Guardsmen in western North Carolina had encountered roving, armed militias, whose apparent goal was to hunt FEMA personnel.

One man was arrested on Monday, although local officials have stated that their investigation shows he was acting alone.

This isn’t about Democrats or Republicans. This is about Americans, suffering and destitute through no fault of their own.

This isn’t about us vs. them. It’s about us and them.

Misinformation runs rampant, and many apparently real people who share seemingly real things are in fact bots programmed by our adversaries, sharing fake stories to weaken us from within.

Divide and conquer — tale as old as time.

But we are far more alike than not. Even in our fears, we have much in common: consider the extreme rhetoric, from both Democrats and Republicans, stating that this could well be the last election if the other side wins.

That rhetoric exists, and works, because it is something we are all concerned about, as Americans.

That should give us some comfort. If enough of us still share a core connectedness caring that there is another election, that our very way of life and system of government can persist, then perhaps enough of us still share more than that, too.

Many of us feel left behind by a changing society.

Frankly, it’s hard not to with as fast as things move these days.

Social media and the internet as a whole have only accelerated that shift. If the whole thing were shuttered tomorrow, researchers would still be studying the effects it has had on our species for a generation.

But it won’t be turned off, and we have to learn to adapt to our new environment and the risks inherent in it.

Humans are communal by nature, and social media algorithms divide us increasingly into partisan echo chambers by feeding off of our collective, shared fears, telling each camp that the other exists only to feast upon your tears.

And our enemies abroad — Russia, Iran and more — have learned to use those platforms to whisper falsehoods, sweet and sibilant, stoking those fears and making us react with anger where once there was compassion.

Due to the winner-take-all nature of our political system, regardless of who wins the election on Nov. 5, an enormous number of Americans are going to feel disenfranchised.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said that “riots are the voice of the unheard.”

When politics fail and politicians turn a blind eye to the suffering of their constituents, worse is always around the corner.

Most terrifying of all, though, is that worse may already be here in North Carolina: and it has been gestated not by our negligence, but by the lies of our adversaries.

Keep an open mind, pay attention — and don’t believe everything you hear on the internet.