I try to avoid scanning the media because it makes me so depressed. Not because the news is all bad or the world is going to hell; that has always been the case and always will be -- that is to say, the world is probably just fine or at least as fine as it has ever been. No, what bothers me is not anything ideological, it's personal. If you read the media, you are left with the impression that the bulk of the population is seething with moral indignation of the perceived evil of the other side. This effect is magnified anytime you get close to election season, which we are. My facebook feed fills up with glib memes and "liked" political propaganda to the point where it outnumbers cat videos 2-to-1, which is saying something.
The act of heralding your comments and opinions is the basis of human self-organization, of how we build coalitions to accomplish things that require more than individual efforts. What I find so disturbing is how infantile and banal these sentiments are. They range from inane comments about how a favored news-celebrity "destroyed" a news-celebrity on the other side, to vacuous memes about gun control and immigration and such, to these futile-minded hashtag campaigns.
What are these people trying to achieve? Do they think they are swaying opinions with their facebook posts? The answer, of course, is no. Or if they do think that, they are deluding themselves about their own purpose. There are three things they are achieving: (1) Mood affiliation; finding others with common feelings and patting each other on the back in encouragement. (2) Demonstrating their goodness, for in the depth of their hearts they know that people who believe these things are good and those who don't are bad. (3) Offering anyone who is susceptible to such temptation the opportunity to raise their status by making similar statements and thereby affiliating themselves with the good people.
That may sound condescending but that's not how I intend it. Do these actions truly achieve one of the 3 effects I listed? I can see them as a form of small-talk to (1) bond with others of your tribe, but does that glib meme that supposedly highlights the hypocrisy of the other side when it comes to immigration or gun control or abortion (2) demonstrate your goodness or just make you look shallow enough to reduce complicated subjects to memes and snark? And honestly, are the people susceptible to such thoughtlessness (3) the kind of people you want to affiliate with?
Of course this folly is heightened by the election and, yes, I realize it's always been like this, but the internet makes it more obvious. I really don't want to make this a sneer at everyone who posts this stuff, but it does depress me to think that this is what constitutes the ongoing political conversation. Perhaps I'm just an old man yelling at clouds.
I know the expression of political opinion is supposed to be a good thing that all concerned citizens should partake of as civic duty, but considering that these are immensely complicated issues that well-intentioned people on both sides have pursued for years with no clear resolution, how does pointing out that somebody got "annihilated" on some news/entertainment show last night really add value? Facile opinions are in oversupply; thought and perspective are the rare commodities. Am I wrong to think we'd better off if folks spent a little more time critically curating their opinions?
You know what? Most people who indulge in this sort of behavior would agree with me about this, they just wouldn't realize I'm talking about them. They probably think that they are scrupulously objective and unbiased in their actions. It's other people who are the problem. The world is made for those who aren't cursed with self-awareness.
Now I'm depressed again.
