How do Generation Z students truly experience diversity in an increasingly polarized society? Is polarization merely ideological, or is it a deeper emotional struggle embedded in their daily lives? This article reveals that multicultural awareness is not just a civic value but a lived reality—negotiated in boarding houses, worship spaces, and the emotionally charged world of social media. What strategies do young people adopt—selective silence, content curation, or reflective restraint—to navigate these tensions? The findings highlight emotional literacy as a vital key to sustaining pluralism in fragmented digital societies. For scholars of communication, politics, education, and youth studies, this article offers essential insights worth reading and citing. Bagaimana sebenarnya Generasi Z merasakan keberagaman di tengah masyarakat yang kian terpolarisasi? Apakah polarisasi hanya soal ideologi politik, ataukah lebih dalam: sebuah pergulatan emosional dalam keseharian mereka? Arti...
Mahfud Anshori is a political culturalist with interest in political communication, media studies, and discourse analysis. His scholarship investigates how media framing constructs political narratives, how rhetoric and discourse shape public opinion and leadership, and how journalism functions as both a democratic institution and a site of ideological contestation.