There’s a strain of rationalization that’s coming from the most “polite” corners of the “What really happened!?” podcast universe, TV hosts, and pundits I think is worth highlighting. Not because it’s more or less correct than any of the dozens of reasons that are somewhat true. I think it’s worth highlighting because it shows how bad we are at talking broadly or framing things in terms of genuine personal accountability.
The shorthand versions will sounds something like, “People really do vote on the economy.” Or, “If you tell them a man can now compete in girl’s sports, that really puts the fear of god in them.”There are “obvious” indicators of what pisses people off. It doesn’t take long for a normal average person to think they don’t want a trans woman competing against their daughter. That’s throwaway simple for anyone but the ones who were in power and with the microphone. But, the issue isn’t the “real” issue. The issue is we are really really dumb when it comes to discussing or understanding what the science, if it has anything to say, is at all.
This happened with covid. Instead of saying, “We’re constantly collecting more data and will update you on what to do next,” they came in and mandated things catch-all style and then downplayed the consequences of the downstream effects. The problem wasn’t our “covid response.” The problem was an unwillingness if not sheer inability to message honestly and effectively about how the scientific process works and the reasoning behind an informed decision.
You know the problem isn’t the problem when old talking points still make their way into the excuse grievance narrative. People were still complaining about gas prices, for example. It will never sink in that presidents have nothing to do with gas prices, but even when they’re low, “gas prices” turns into “eggs” or the infinitely broad “economy.” “Inflation” is invoked, as though it’s not a global phenomenon and self-confessed consequence of opportunistic greed.
If you want to lay claim to the fleetingly small “rational” part of the human animal, you can’t dismiss the linguistic context within which they are operating. People do not know how to articulate what they do or don’t feel, think, like, hate, etc. The smart people don’t, the dumb people don’t, it’s just not a thing we do well, at all. This is how children of immigrants will vote to have their family members deported. This is why poor people will vote to have their taxes increased. They “feel” desperate and angry and are genuinely victimized. They glom onto the avatars of that. That’s not “rational.”
People “really” only vote on their feelings and impressions. There’s roughly a dozen people who will methodically calculate the policies and implications. I’ve felt, my entire life, at the ass-end of shitty republican policy that makes it hard to get assistance when I’m super poor, fucks with how much I should be paid for my time, increases my taxes, destroys the ecosystem, and endangers the lives of my friends. I don’t “feel” that, that’s their stated mission and regularly acted upon agenda. My new governor of Indiana was as complicit in the insurrection as they come. The Christians, the fascists, the ideologues of every stripe want you under heal.
This includes the oft-caricatured “radical Leftist.” The infinite sea of irony is that “the media” or the “proud” ones on the Right who own and make a show of that shittiest of all behaviors get to be viewed as more “honest” and “telling it like it is.”
NONE OF THESE CUNTS ARE TELLING THE TRUTH.
Worse than that, when you hear someone in the media say that exact same sentiment, or you get it reflexively from the no-information non-voter, they won’t be using it like I am. They aren’t going to be implying that we’re all scientifically and historically illiterate. They aren’t going to have a list of psychology and rhetoric resources for you to start gaining insight on your behavior.
I think back to economics classes. They literally presume a “rational consumer” who is going to make decisions about what to buy based on simple and boring calculation. They have the balls to then develop a whole mythology around this that you can major in, and then they wonder why people on the outside don’t trust their “expert” analysis of why prices or goods look the way they do. The theory behind democracy and having an “informed populace” suffers the exact same issue. There’s not simply too much information, it’s that to be “informed” you need to be able to trust the information altogether, do so for long enough to see and carry the consequences over time, and have a basic respect and defense for discerning truth and evidence in the first place.
We don’t have that. “The media,” wants clicks, not genuine information connecting and motivating informed behavior. “Public intellectuals,” personalities, influencers, and moralizers want money, attention, and to feel as special as they’ve always knew they were with their big brains and big hearts and ability to heard sheeple. As individuals, we’re not expected to live up to any standard beyond the ho-hum stupid fascism of our friends and families. So, what on Earth would make you think there’s a desire to “preserve democracy?” You don’t put any of your ideas up to a scrutinized and informed vote, except maybe occasionally where to go to dinner.
I already can’t count the amount of empty generalized platitudes the “adults” are offering to the people who are scared, desperate, and confused. We’re more prepared this time? Cool. We know what to expect? Right. None of us can individually cure a cultural psychosis. We’re all drinking from the same stupid language Kool-Aid. Our visceral instinctive reaction to any truth about the actual work and the descriptions and directions of where we need to go garners a doubling-down attitude.
Hey man, if you wanna stop doing that drug, you need to surround yourself with people who have many sober years and mindsets.
Okay, fuck you, I can do this alone.
Hey man, if you want to connect with “the other side,” you need to recognize that your bleeding heart vibes have not once been curious as to the detailed Israeli operations.
Fuck you! Genocidal maniac!
Hey man, when you don’t understand the science of fetus vs zygote vs embryo…
ALL UNBORN LIVES MATTER!
The onlookers and “reporters” and pundits will remark on this dynamic as “People are deeply divided and have personal views they vote on as their one issue.”
Except, they’re all united by how unwilling and unable they are to process and parse information. We’re all very, very dumb and using superimposed narrative impressions to do the actual work for us. The language of modernity is our Suboxone or methadone. That is what we get when we go to our feeds and favorite “news” outlets. We get the script to not do the work.
We get the excuses so we don’t have to believe that every word we use, every disposition we bring into a space, and every thing we share or choose to stay silent or opine on matters. We don’t want that responsibility. We haven’t been taught how to wield it responsibly if we did. We don’t have the patience. We don’t see the point. “We” aren’t “me,” so what do you know? In the immortal words of a Surrounded idiot Trump supporter challenging an equally unhelpful Destiny, “Were you there?” Somehow, your infinitely limited, incomplete, and incoherent experience alone trumps everything, forever.
