The movie “Civil War,” which depicts Texas and California seceding from the nation to wage war on Washington, D.C., reflects a what-if scenario fueled by memories of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. But as the presidential election looms, discussions about civil war have moved beyond theoretical debates to become a serious consideration among some voters.

Straight Arrow News contributor Jordan Reid analyzes the new dystopian movie in the context of America’s current political landscape.

I think that if I sat down and asked somebody why might your country or my country disintegrate into a state of civil war, they would know the answers. I don’t need to spell them out. Those answers surround us. So I felt it would be not just patronizing but redundant to spell it out.

Look, I am of the opinion that you don’t change anyone’s mind in either direction by yelling at them, telling them they’re crazy, fascists, what have you. The way you change minds is by finding points of commonality, communicating, above all, listening. And I definitely understand that the extremism of the very far left can be damaging to the goal of unity, perhaps, perhaps even to the goal of progress.

But there is a danger to this film — again, it’s one I thought was very good and very thought-provoking and I do recommend it — but the thing is I can have my disagreements with certain elements of the far left and certain elements of the far right, but the danger presented by the two, it’s not an equivalency.