The protesters that took over the Capitol Building yesterday afternoon were following the orders of their master manipulators. It was the last ditch effort of a small man in power. And it was not overly surprising. How else should a reasonable person expect this era to end? How else would a person expect Trump to take being deemed a loser? What did Republicans in positions of power that helped to disseminate electoral conspiracy theories expect to happen?
This is not a platform to bash Trump. I decided a few months ago to restart this blog in an effort to present ideas that could help us collectively move forward. Ideas that not only help to diagnose the root of what allowed societal decay in the past decade, but also point to some solutions I’ve come across that seem to make sense. Ideas that aren’t partisan or polarizing. I do have opinions and a political lean. I’ll do what I can to keep those views from bleeding into the writing. I’ve been working on many pieces and had planned to start releasing them soon anyway. Yesterday’s debauchery just provided an opportunity to hit the ground running.
Again, this isn’t a blog to bash Trump, and it would be to my delight to not write about him or politics again. I felt compelled to write and post today because the events of yesterday so succinctly put into view some of the issues that I hope to address on this platform.
Those that dislike Trump are quick to see yesterday’s protestors, and his supporters in general, in the same light that they see Trump. It took me a long time to find another angle on this. I am not a fan of Trump. His appeal has eluded me for quite some time. I saw his supporters as either stupid or protagonists. Either they believed what he said verbatim or they liked that his rhetoric was frustrating and angering the Left. Realizing that a fractured society had no chance at addressing our major societal and potentially existential problems forced me to shift perspective.
I have come to have sympathy for many of the Trump supporters. While I am convinced that among his supporters there are awful people. There are undoubtedly racists, misogynists, xenophobes, and folks that fetishize violence and chaos in their ranks, but I think a majority of his supporters have been manipulated and have been failed by the system at large. They have been misled by a master manipulator using the tools of social media. Tools that have been refined over the last decade to acutely manipulate human behavior. And failed by a system that has left them angry and susceptible to extreme rhetoric.
As a caveat I’ll say that I’m still baffled by Trump. I understand that there are economic reasons to support Trump. I understand that many people can overlook character flaws for economic reasons, but no matter how important portfolios are to American conservatives I don’t think that would be enough reason to storm the US Congress. I’m sure there are reasons to support Trump that I’m missing. If you’ve got one I’d love to hear it. That’s a sincere request to help me understand.
I’d also like to say that I’m not trying to take some moral high-ground. Many on the Left, myself included, were duped by the Obama administration and have grown disillusioned by the established Democratic Party in general. Hence the rise in popularity of politicians such as Bernie Sanders, Andrew Yang, and AOC. The sword of manipulation cuts both ways, and everyone is vulnerable to it under the right circumstances. The Hope and Change of Obama can feel as disingenuous as the Make America Great Again of Trump. One can be manipulated to be a Trump extremist on the Right or an overly-woke activist on the Left.
Propaganda is real and it’s easier than ever to spread. An example is the way media covered the events of yesterday. Some outlets refer to those that broke their way into the Capitol Building as thugs, insurgents, and terrorists while others referred to them as patriots, truth seekers, and warriors. Those same respective outlets probably used the reverse to describe the BLM protestors of the past year. The inability to recognize propaganda is the fault of our society at large. The outlets that deliver our news aren’t benevolent altruists that have a passion for public discourse. They are companies that prioritize profit. Their job is to sell tooth paste, insurance, and pharmaceuticals with ridiculous names.
The above is only in reference to the major news outlets. When it comes to internet platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. the mechanism for manipulation is much more complicated, and more difficult for the average citizen to understand. Social media is also much more effective for those hoping to spread propaganda and influence human behavior. Media literacy, science literacy, and the issues stemming from social media are topics that will be explored in more depth on this platform.
There must be a way forward for those that supported Trump and were as disappointed by yesterday’s events as the rest of us. There must be a path to disassociate from that ideology and be welcomed back into the conversation. We cannot label half the voting population as pariahs and expect to tackle issues such as climate change, wealth inequality, healthcare, nuclear disarmament, cyber security, data privacy, social media regulation, etc.
We should do what we can to be empathetic and sympathetic to those that have been led astray by these bad actors using powerful tools of manipulation. We should also do our best to not patronize these folks, pity them, or take any stance of superiority. Again, we can all be susceptible to extremism if the conditions are right.
There is no doubt that our modern inequitable society has created some very angry people. It is also no secret that at the top rung of our society are people and institutions that know how to take advantage of that anger. The anger on the Left resulted in the relative success of the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2016 and 2020, and on the Right resulted in the wave of Trumpism. This is an asymmetrical comparison in ideology and rationality, but it makes the point.
I’m not delusional enough to think that a hardened Trump supporter will read much of this – if you’d like to hear my take on delusion and arrogance when it comes to writing you need only check out the ‘Why Write’ section in the menu bar of this site. I am delusional enough to think that someone will read this and perhaps it will have some impact. I’ve been told I want to save the world in a justifiably condescending manner. While that is a bit hyperbolic I do feel I have a tendency to notice suffering and injustice more than the average person. I am also predisposed to be a bit overly sensitive and believe I should at least do something about it when I see it.
Future posts to this site will focus on good ideas. Very few of those ideas, if any, will be mine directly. Most of what I’ll talk about will be the ideas of others – people certainly much smarter than I. Ideas that aren’t confined to the dualistic nature of the mainstream. There are nuanced ideas out there and difficult conversations being had. We must escape our preference and filter bubbles and search for answers. I hope this can contribute to that conversation.
Thanks for reading and check back soon.
For more on propaganda check out the podcast Philosophize This, episode #148. It’s a good and quick overview of media propaganda. It’s also a good podcast for basic introductions to philosophy.
For more info on the influence of social media check out The Social Dilemma on Netflix, the book Zucked by Roger McNamee, and works by Tristan Harris…that’s enough to send you down a hundred different rabbit holes.
*The horribleness of yesterday was not without some bursts of comedy. Trump telling the mob that broke into the Capitol ‘I love you’ is hilarious. Eric and Don Jr. were probably heartbroken that an angry mob got a verbal ‘I love you’ from their dad before they did.
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