A series where I use the tools and skills I have learned through studying history to try and understand Donald Trump. Love or hate him, he's definitely a person historians will be talking about for a long, long time.
Thoughts on social media, culture, etc. A friend recently mentioned that I was trying to understand "the Right Wing." Surprised me but it might be true but it needs context.
Social media is changing many things. First, everyone can find a group that tells them that whatever they are doing is normal. No matter how extreme, unusual, unhealthy, and previously abnormal it used to be, whatever you happen to be thinking or doing or using for entertainment, you can now find a group of people who will tell you this is normal.
I grew up about 200 miles north of New York City. I still live here in fact. And when I was growing up, New York City was the strangest, most bizarre place we could imagine and known for being home to the craziest people one could imagine and many you could not.
When I was in middle school, one of my cousins considered moving to New York City. I said to my father "Why in the world would anyone wish to live in New York City?"
And he said "Peter, you can find people who are interested in anything you want down in New York City. Groups of them and clubs for everything. Any hobby you want, there's a club for it and you can play almost any board game you wish any night of the week if you find people who like to do it. Heck, if you wanted to run around in a room naked waving feathers you could find a hundred people in New York City who thought that was a great thing to do too and you could probably all do it together."
And it was probably true. But now with the internet, you don't need to go to New York City to find those people. You can find them much more easily on your computer and with just a wee bit of exploring and research. Which means everyone's views on what is normal behavior and thinking is changing. Often it's becoming more solidified, more ossified, more rigid, and more extreme. And, upon being reinforced, many people seem to think that the entire world should adhere to their views on what various symbols and political figures (who are kind of human symbols) mean and how such things should be interpreted and what is normal behavior and normal word usage and definition even in cases where there is not a universally accepted definition. Which means we are, as people, both American people and global citizens,becoming more polarized. But simultaneously with the internet, people can now watch each other and see each other and react to each other in ways they never could before. Which means we often fight and argue and band together and sneer at outsiders more than we used to ever do.
And to some extent this means we get more fighting over symbols and norms of behavior and things that really should not affect us at all. And to some extent this means we get more fighting over symbols and norms of behavior and things that really should not affect us at all.
This week I found myself interacting multiple times with people who had strong views on, of all thing, Black Mermaids. Additionally I found myself interacting with people who felt they had the one true view on the issue of Black Mermaids and some were quite emotional about it too and wanted to argue about it. Which was quite strange. And my reaction, "But i don't want to talk about Black Mermaids. I'd much rather talk about Chinese Mermaids like in this cool Stephen Chow film," seemed to satisfy no one and I actually had people try to draw me into conversations and arguments about Black Mermaids when I made it. And this fighting is not good.
Now most people know I do not think Donald Trump is a good president but I also believe he is one of the few modern politicians (celebrities?) who understands and utilizes the concepts I've discussed so far. (AOC is another one.) It is one of the keys to his success. He has consistently destroyed and beaten the people who have underestimated him because he's playing a completely different game than most of the politicians in the USA (or the world) today.
And every week at least once, something passes through my FB feed that says "Donald Trump is so bad, that you should not talk to any of your friends, family, or neighbors who support him."
And then there are those who say "No, you don't need to cut your friends, family, and Trump supporting neighbors out of your life completely. But when you do see them, you should loudly should your views at them and fight a lot. Hurt, humiliate and insult them whenever possible. That's all you need to do, but make sure you do it whenever possible"
And the more of this I see, honestly, the more likely I think is that Donald Trump will get re-elected. Such behavior does not win hearts and minds. It does not make friends and influence people. And it's a little scary and said that our traditional communal organizations, the schools, churches, volunteer fire departments, little league clubs, and whatever are not functioning to bring us all together and force us to interact. If I am showing in interest in understanding "the right" it's merely part of tryin t to understand the world around me and the people who we all live with.
Thoughts on social media, culture, etc. A friend recently mentioned that I was trying to understand "the Right Wing." Surprised me but it might be true but it needs context.
Social media is changing many things. First, everyone can find a group that tells them that whatever they are doing is normal. No matter how extreme, unusual, unhealthy, and previously abnormal it used to be, whatever you happen to be thinking or doing or using for entertainment, you can now find a group of people who will tell you this is normal.
I grew up about 200 miles north of New York City. I still live here in fact. And when I was growing up, New York City was the strangest, most bizarre place we could imagine and known for being home to the craziest people one could imagine and many you could not.
When I was in middle school, one of my cousins considered moving to New York City. I said to my father "Why in the world would anyone wish to live in New York City?"
And he said "Peter, you can find people who are interested in anything you want down in New York City. Groups of them and clubs for everything. Any hobby you want, there's a club for it and you can play almost any board game you wish any night of the week if you find people who like to do it. Heck, if you wanted to run around in a room naked waving feathers you could find a hundred people in New York City who thought that was a great thing to do too and you could probably all do it together."
And it was probably true. But now with the internet, you don't need to go to New York City to find those people. You can find them much more easily on your computer and with just a wee bit of exploring and research. Which means everyone's views on what is normal behavior and thinking is changing. Often it's becoming more solidified, more ossified, more rigid, and more extreme. And, upon being reinforced, many people seem to think that the entire world should adhere to their views on what various symbols and political figures (who are kind of human symbols) mean and how such things should be interpreted and what is normal behavior and normal word usage and definition even in cases where there is not a universally accepted definition. Which means we are, as people, both American people and global citizens,becoming more polarized. But simultaneously with the internet, people can now watch each other and see each other and react to each other in ways they never could before. Which means we often fight and argue and band together and sneer at outsiders more than we used to ever do.
And to some extent this means we get more fighting over symbols and norms of behavior and things that really should not affect us at all. And to some extent this means we get more fighting over symbols and norms of behavior and things that really should not affect us at all.
This week I found myself interacting multiple times with people who had strong views on, of all thing, Black Mermaids. Additionally I found myself interacting with people who felt they had the one true view on the issue of Black Mermaids and some were quite emotional about it too and wanted to argue about it. Which was quite strange. And my reaction, "But i don't want to talk about Black Mermaids. I'd much rather talk about Chinese Mermaids like in this cool Stephen Chow film," seemed to satisfy no one and I actually had people try to draw me into conversations and arguments about Black Mermaids when I made it. And this fighting is not good.
Now most people know I do not think Donald Trump is a good president but I also believe he is one of the few modern politicians (celebrities?) who understands and utilizes the concepts I've discussed so far. (AOC is another one.) It is one of the keys to his success. He has consistently destroyed and beaten the people who have underestimated him because he's playing a completely different game than most of the politicians in the USA (or the world) today.
And every week at least once, something passes through my FB feed that says "Donald Trump is so bad, that you should not talk to any of your friends, family, or neighbors who support him."
And then there are those who say "No, you don't need to cut your friends, family, and Trump supporting neighbors out of your life completely. But when you do see them, you should loudly should your views at them and fight a lot. Hurt, humiliate and insult them whenever possible. That's all you need to do, but make sure you do it whenever possible"
And the more of this I see, honestly, the more likely I think is that Donald Trump will get re-elected. Such behavior does not win hearts and minds. It does not make friends and influence people. And it's a little scary and said that our traditional communal organizations, the schools, churches, volunteer fire departments, little league clubs, and whatever are not functioning to bring us all together and force us to interact. If I am showing in interest in understanding "the right" it's merely part of tryin t to understand the world around me and the people who we all live with.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READING
Wonderful background stuff on how people form groups, develop norms of behavior and thought for the group, and respond to criticism of the group and/or its symbols. I can't recommend this sort of material highly enough in this divided day and age.
Jonathan Haidt -Post Partisan Politics
FINALLY
books by me. If you really want to support this blog,or enjoy it and wish to see what else I've done, please check this out. Thanks.
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