America Needs Couples Therapy (Part Three): Declining Democracy
The Current Predicament
Political polarization is nothing new for society. Humans have always been politically liberal/conservative, risk-tolerant/risk-averse, and spontaneous/calculated. What feels unique, and has been observed by many, is that fragmentation and division have increased, recognizable by average citizens and our elected officials' lack of acknowledging and validating the arguments of the opposing side's perspective. In essence, we haven't been living in a bipartisan era. Discourse seems to have intensified to the degree that merely expressing an opinion feels like social or career suicide.
While this is not a new phenomenon, it is new to us. Just as the pandemic was new to us, earlier generations of people have been exposed to the same fear of contagion, media hysterics, and residual physiological and psychological impacts of such periods.
This begs the question, with the gap of civil discourse widening, leaving little room for consensus, how did we get to this place? Also, what does it take to find and reclaim some common ground with space for civil discourse? In this article, I examine how we became more polarized, what this does to our psychological well-being, and how we might return to a place that might feel more mutually agreeable.
In the first part of this series, I look at several ideas, including American enlightenment ideals and historical cycles theories, to examine historical perspectives. In the second part of this series, I discuss psychological perspectives contributing to the issue of polarization.
Declining Democracy
As it stands currently, 62% of Americans support abortion, and 73% oppose affirmative action.29 30 This is troubling given the conservatively led Supreme Court's decision banning abortion federally, leaving individual states authority in these decisions. Additionally problematic is how standard affirmative action has become in traditionally liberal universities, impacting enrollments as well as DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) hiring practices (as opposed to educational practices) in job settings. These statistics paint a different conclusion, not only about political polarization but also about the current state of democracy in the United States.
Unsurprisingly, global democracy has declined, with more than 65% of countries (108 of the 167 listed) exhibiting decreasing or stagnated scores over the past 15 years. The United States has been steadily declining in this 15-year period as well. The Democracy Index, published by the Economist Intelligence Unit, ranks democracies on a scale from 0, categorized as authoritarian regimes, to 10, full democracies. Luckily, America is not Afghanistan, which ranks lowest, currently at 0.32; however, America in 2006 was listed as a full democracy but has been demoted to a flawed democracy, with numbers falling from 8.22 to 7.85, respectively. America's political culture ranked even lower at 6.25, and the functioning of the government was rated at 6.43 (other variables considered in its overall score include electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, and political participation).31
Plutocracy, closely related to the moderate enlightenment ideal of the aristocracy (both falling under the category oligarchy), focuses on the wealthy controlling the government as opposed to the nobility having a controlling stake, playing an everpresent role in decreasing democracy. One way of disseminating how it does is by looking at mass media. News media corporations receive funding from specific sources, which, in turn, determines the stories they report on, ultimately catering to liberal or conservative interests. Funding determines the quality and angle of reporting. Objectivity is boring to consumers and leads to disengagement from audiences. The media model increases opinion and speculation reporting, often playing to the amygdala (fear) and the dopaminergic system (reward). This can leads to the mind being hijacked and control being exerted over the public.
Sigmund Freud's nephew, Edward Bernays, a pioneer in the fields of public relations and propaganda, took Freud's idea of people being motivated by unconscious desires and utilized it in the context of persuading the masses. In his book Public Relations, Bernays discussed how information could be systematically introduced to the public to create advantages for organizations that release said information. 32 He is responsible for tobacco campaigns to mislead the public that smoking helps people stay thin and that Dixie Cups are more sanitary because they are disposable. He reportedly turned down the Nazis' plea to assist their movement; regardless, Joseph Goebbels was an ardent fan. America has a long history of being misled, and overall, Americans' trust in mass media is down to 41%.33
69% of Democrats trust mass media "a great deal" or a "fair amount" compared to their Republican counterpart, who sit at a wildly opposite 15%. How I interpret this data is that Democrats are probably practicing less skepticism than they should, causing many of them not to question the importance of immigration policy, the reckless enablement of the homeless population, and the befuddling refusal to acknowledge that carrying minority status does not make you impervious to being criticized for your behaviors.34 35 36 On the contrary, Republicans can easily veer into paranoia through their increased likelihood of believing conspiracy theories, are more likely to ignore essential health markers (higher obesity rates, less likely to be vaccinated), and are less inclined to believe in evolution.37 38 39 40
According to Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky in their seminal work, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, the media follows what the authors identify as a propaganda model. In this model, the aim is to retain power and wealth by disseminating what news, and how much of said news, is what the public needs to hear. It provides the illusion of operating with integrity while protecting the private interests of the elite. Given how censorship has played out on social media, it is likely fair to say that Facebook, Twitter, Tik Tok, and other platforms where news might emerge in your personalized feed operate on the propaganda model as well through advertising and content curation that plays into people's identity or identities.
The propaganda model is structured through size, ownership, and profit orientation; advertising; sourcing of the news (mainly through the government and corporations); "flak," meaning "negative responses to a media statement or program," which can shift advertising, sourcing, and story campaigns; and a common enemy (e.g., anti-communism) as a control method. The mass media acts as a system of containment that can dictate the behavior of the public.41 While Herman and Chomsky would argue the harmfulness of the propaganda model, Bernays would say there is at least a sense of democratic pluralism in the propaganda Americans consume compared to other countries such as China and Russia.
Ordinary people have unknowingly and yet voluntarily placed themselves in proverbial cages. What's different is that the cage becomes reinforced algorithmically through engagement; the more you engage, the more you are invested in narratives that will strengthen your connection to your associated identity. Also, the more you engage, the more you are recommended content that will prolong your engagement, exposing you to more ads and content, bolstering your perspectives. Finally, the more you engage, the more you are exposed to the most extreme voices, providing a collective illusion that the viewpoints being expressed are being held by the masses.
One of the best examples of a cage people placed themselves in was when Russian foreign interference targeted social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter with disinformation campaigns during the 2016 election. To borrow a quote from former Trump strategist and Breitbart Media executive Steve Bannon, their purpose was to infringe upon fair and free elections by "flood"—ing "the zone with shit." This type of media tactic involves an increased saturation of information, regardless of its accuracy, to the point that it can be escalatingly difficult to decipher what's true and what's false, let alone what's relevant versus what's irrelevant to one's daily functioning.42 Americans have already been groomed domestically through a propaganda model, which likely increased their susceptibility to the Russian campaigns or any foreign interference for that matter.
Disinformation has increased in popularity so much that election denialism has run rampant since Joe Biden was confirmed to be both the winner of the popular vote and affirmed by the electoral college. While indeed a wide range, it is estimated that 19-40% of Americans believe Biden did not legitimately win.43 44 Election denialism was initially purported by former President Trump but has since been adopted by establishment Republicans including, but not limited to, Texas senator Ted Cruz, Florida Senator Rick Scott, Pennslyvania representative Scott Perry, and many others.45
Luckily, this was not an effective strategy judging by the results of the 2022 mid-terms, as many candidates who embraced Trumpism and election denial lost their respective races. Needless to say, propaganda campaigns can lose their efficacy over time.
Despite their limited efficacy, propaganda campaigns create increased confusion amongst the public, with an influx of people voting against their best interests and buying products under false pretenses. Politicians, whose duty is to represent the public interest, have reinforced propaganda campaigns by listening to a brainwashed and polarized population.
In short, the polarization cycle is as such:
Plutocratic elites control the media.
Mass media creates propaganda campaigns to control the masses.
The masses consume the information released by the media and become more politically extreme because of it.
The masses then vote for more radical policies and politicians, whether they believe in them or not, due to factors such as voting based on identity, collective illusions, and radicalization.
Politicians are interested in retaining their power and will reinforce the most polarized perspectives to get reelected.
Democracy continues to decrease.
Propaganda campaigns get less engagement or are questioned publicly.
Rinse and repeat.
Despite the grim direction the article has taken, I am a hopeful person and think that the country and decrease polarization and increase democracy through learning basic and necessary communication skills.
Refrences
29. Pew Research Center. (2022, July 11). Majority of public disapproves of Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Pew Research Center - U.S. Politics & Policy. Retrieved October 5, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/07/06/majority-of-public-disapproves-of-supreme-courts-decision-to-overturn-roe-v-wade/
30. Resartus, F. (2022, October). The American affirmative-action regime. The New Criterion. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://newcriterion.com/issues/2022/10/the-american-affirmative-action-regime
31. Democracy index 2021: The China Challenge. Economist Intelligence Unit. (2022, February 15). Retrieved October 5, 2022, from https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/democracy-index-2021/?linkId=100000111278270
32. BBC. (2002). Century of Self. YouTube. United Kingdom. Retrieved December 21, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s.
33. Brenan, M. (2021, November 20). Americans' trust in mass media edges down to 41%. Gallup.com. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://news.gallup.com/poll/267047/americans-trust-mass-media-edges-down.aspx
34. Walterbach, A. G. (2022, August 30). Benevolent cruelty. Quillette. Retrieved December 23, 2022, from https://quillette.com/2022/08/30/benevolent-cruelty/
35. Oliphant, J. B., & Cerda, A. (2022, September 8). Republicans and Democrats have different top priorities for U.S. immigration policy. Pew Research Center. Retrieved December 23, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/09/08/republicans-and-democrats-have-different-top-priorities-for-u-s-immigration-policy/
36. Sowell, T. (2011). Intellectuals and society. Basic Books, A Member of the Perseus Books Group.
37. Funk, C. (2020, August 28). Republicans' views on evolution. Pew Research Center. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/01/03/republican-views-on-evolution-tracking-how-its-changed/
38. Shin, M. E., & McCarthy, W. J. (2013). The association between county political inclination and obesity: Results from the 2012 presidential election in the United States. Preventive medicine, 57(5), 721–724. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2013.07.026
39. Galston, W. A. (2022, March 9). For covid-19 vaccinations, party affiliation matters more than race and ethnicity. Brookings. Retrieved December 23, 2022, from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2021/10/01/for-covid-19-vaccinations-party-affiliation-matters-more-than-race-and-ethnicity/
40. Orth, T. (2022, March 30). Which groups of Americans are most likely to believe conspiracy theories? YouGov. Retrieved December 23, 2022, from https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/03/30/which-groups-americans-believe-conspiracies
41. Herman, E. S., & Chomsky, N. (2002). A propaganda model. In Manufacturing consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (pp. 1–35). essay, Pantheon Books.
42. Illing, S. (2020, January 16). "Flood the zone with shit": How misinformation overwhelmed our democracy. Vox. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/1/16/20991816/impeachment-trial-trump-bannon-misinformation
43. Cuthbert, L., & Theodoridis, A. (2022, January 7). Analysis | do Republicans really believe Trump won the 2020 election? our research suggests that they do. The Washington Post. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/07/republicans-big-lie-trump/
44. Yang, M. (2022, January 5). More than 40% in US do not believe Biden legitimately won election – poll. The Guardian. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/05/america-biden-election-2020-poll-victory
45. Teague Beckwith, R. (2022, September 6). The 253 politicians who back Trump's false election fraud claims. Bloomberg.com. Retrieved November 14, 2022, from https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/us-election-risk-index/all-election-denier-officials/?leadSource=uverify+wall