The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves
The State of Democracy in the Digital Age
In the midst of a surprising October, on the eve of an American election that has many very, very worried, two questions beg to be asked: how the hell did we get here, and what do we do to get out? If one should find a simple answer to the first question, that the troubles of today are the doing of some nefarious force ,— be it Donald Trump, the mainstream media, Russia, China, or anything else — then one will find a similarly simple answer to the second: expunge the malicious actors, and the problem is solved.
If, however, one realizes that our troubles go beyond any ill-meaning actors, that the unsavory elements of our politics and our culture are largely the product of what works in our modern paradigm, then things get considerably trickier. If, after all, we are dealing not only with incendiary rhetoric, with misinformation and manipulation, and with corruption, but with an environment that incentivizes each one of these things, then no amount of eliminating individual actors or offering alternative content will solve the problem — the ugliness will continue to rise to the top, and the division and hostility will mount upon itself until it reaches a violent crescendo. This inevitable nature to our troubles makes them a threat not only to the present well-being of our nation, but to the very viability of a democratic society in the modern age.
Our most recent political touchpoint, around the leaking and subsequent suppression of Hunter Biden’s dealings and doings, is a perfect encapsulation of our tribalist spiral. The case begins with a New York Post scoop, taken by the Right as an affirmation of deep corruption within the camp of the Democratic candidate. To our political Left, however, the story could not be trusted, its sourcing questionable, its authors and endorsers the very face of political dishonesty. More than a cheap hit job, they saw it as dangerous misinformation meant to manipulate minds, and they acted in accordance with the assessment.
The result? An escalation in every sense. The story, and the story about the story, exploded, with Twitter’s efforts to suppress the story meeting with an outcry over censorship and a fresh push for Big Tech regulations, while attention to the piece itself surged. To the Left, the saga was further evidence of corruption, dishonesty, and delusion among the Other Side. To the Right, it was further evidence of corruption, dishonesty, and delusion among the Other Side. Few minds changed, many hearts hardened.
As with seemingly any political moment in recent times, the misadventures of Hunter Biden, the contents of his hard drive, and the publication of said contents have served to inflame tensions and deepen our divide. Such is the nature of modern discourse and media — content is formed within ideological bubbles, preaching to its tribe (any other would refuse to consume it), selected for its ability to garner likes and clicks. Polarization and alienation feed upon themselves, and more and more is justified in the tribal battle — doxxing and leaks, censorship and suppression, even violence in the streets. Each tactical escalation is met with revulsion and outcry from an Other Side unsympathetic to its justification, and the cycle ever worsens.
In any such crisis, it is natural to seek blame, but doing so here would bring neither truth nor salvation from the trouble. Does some fault lie with our politicians, and our partisan media, for sowing seeds of division? Sure, but their rhetoric and tone are inevitable with the incentives in play, and the cultural rifts they feed upon have been forming for decades or longer. Does some fault lie within the hostile forces — foreign powers and domestic insurgents — working to exploit those divisions? It seems so, but there once again we are looking at a natural outcome, with the severity of our exposed vulnerabilities and the long list of those who might gain from our loss.
And what about the architects of our new media, who forged these inflammable environs? No, even there, blame does us no good. The progress of technology goes in one direction, and our abilities to communicate in new ways are bound to lead here. Were it not for Mark Zuckerberg, someone else would have struck upon the dopamine goldmine that is the Facebook model, and the same is true for Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and the like. The future is upon us, and we must either learn to live with it, or use the heavy hand of authoritarianism to clamp it down.
Healing is a daunting task, but not an impossible one, and it begins with realizing the folly of our current state. As the tone and content of our political discourse worsen, fatigue and disgust among the people offer a catalyst for change, but they alone are not enough. To break the cycle of division, to salvage our freedoms, liberties, and ability to coexist with one another, we must look inward. We must focus, not on exposing the evil within the other, but on seeing the good in us all. We must realize, and help each other realize, that we are by and large well-intentioned people who just want the best for our world and our future, that the greatest obstacle we face is our own alienation, buoyed by this twisted new communication paradigm. We must find a unifying message around which to coalesce, and push it forward even when it goes against the natural current. If we can do all that, then all is not lost. As the old saying alludes, when times of hardship seem to be mounting upon themselves, it is the light of hope itself that we must follow.
Until then, the beatings will continue.
