If prejudice was an infectious disease, we would be talking about the new drug-resistant strand. It has appropriated the rhetoric of victimhood and of the resistance to “political correctness.” It adopted the viral techniques through social media. How does one explain rise of the European nationalism, and Trump’s victory in the US? An economic explanation blames the Great Recession. It might be true, but I can’t help thinking – incomplete. The vision of the good life that motivates me and most of my friends includes the great diversity of human faces, cultures, accents, and beliefs, all engaged in a great polyphony of global community. Let’s not kid ourselves – this dream failed to attract millions of people. They are not quite the majority, but we’re still talking hundreds of millions of Americans and Europeans. Those are very big minorities. Those people have their dreams elsewhere: we may think in the non-existent utopian past where everyone was similar. It does not matter why, but the dream of multiculturalism is not their own.
Intellectually, we have not answered the two biggest challenges posed by conservatives. One is that some non-Western cultures hold values incompatible with a liberal democratic society, and therefore, there should be limits to inclusion. And the other is the challenge of righteous intolerance, the old flaw of the Left. The easy answers are readily available: (1) The Western cultures also have stuff incompatible with liberal democracy, and (2) All normative systems include intolerance to something; why should multiculturalism be an exception? But the more difficult answers would have to be strong in a less abstract, more practical ways to convince the great minorities.
However, the greatest challenges for us are not intellectual. The right-wing nationalists/populists (perhaps not without the help from Moscow) have weaponized the social media. The simplistic memes of prejudice now spread with a lightning speed, in various forms – from the alt-right propaganda to fake news, from political trolling to various conspiracy theories. It is not just an intellectual debate; it is an all-out war. The war cannot be won with multicultural fairs and social justice curriculum. Neither can it be won with traditional mass media. We really need something stronger, something different. I don’t know what it is, but we better start working on it.
I hate to say this, but we’re not winning the social media war. Liberals are a lot less prone to creating and spreading fake news or churning out conspiracy theories, (they do both, just incomparably less). Moreover, using the same weapon devalues our own convictions and principles. There is a chance that Trump administration will unravel on its own, just because of sheer incompetence of unprecedented scale. But in the long run, it would not solve the problem. The real problem is that mass consciousness is vulnerable to hacking by destructive racist memes, and we have no effective immune system in place to fight the disease.
Intellectually, we have not answered the two biggest challenges posed by conservatives. One is that some non-Western cultures hold values incompatible with a liberal democratic society, and therefore, there should be limits to inclusion. And the other is the challenge of righteous intolerance, the old flaw of the Left. The easy answers are readily available: (1) The Western cultures also have stuff incompatible with liberal democracy, and (2) All normative systems include intolerance to something; why should multiculturalism be an exception? But the more difficult answers would have to be strong in a less abstract, more practical ways to convince the great minorities.
However, the greatest challenges for us are not intellectual. The right-wing nationalists/populists (perhaps not without the help from Moscow) have weaponized the social media. The simplistic memes of prejudice now spread with a lightning speed, in various forms – from the alt-right propaganda to fake news, from political trolling to various conspiracy theories. It is not just an intellectual debate; it is an all-out war. The war cannot be won with multicultural fairs and social justice curriculum. Neither can it be won with traditional mass media. We really need something stronger, something different. I don’t know what it is, but we better start working on it.
I hate to say this, but we’re not winning the social media war. Liberals are a lot less prone to creating and spreading fake news or churning out conspiracy theories, (they do both, just incomparably less). Moreover, using the same weapon devalues our own convictions and principles. There is a chance that Trump administration will unravel on its own, just because of sheer incompetence of unprecedented scale. But in the long run, it would not solve the problem. The real problem is that mass consciousness is vulnerable to hacking by destructive racist memes, and we have no effective immune system in place to fight the disease.
I agree that 'fairs and curriculum' are not enough as we need to do more. I think this is a conversation we as a college should have. I know some of us use social media to challenge the hate speech, the alt-right, fake news, but I don't think this changes attitudes, mind-set although I wouldn't stop as you do reach some people (some of my FB friends are fair-minded and not well informed so it has opened up conversations). But I think there has to be more face-to-face forums where we challenge the 'alt-right' positions and why this is problematic. At the same time, we have to be respectful of their positions and try, try, try to have a respectful discussion. I think some of the campus events are one way. However, some attendees to these events aren't there to learn but to 'push buttons' to get people to react and get into yelling, name calling etc.
ReplyDeleteI hope as a community we might arrive at ways to address this.
In solidarity sisters and brothers.
Linda
I believe it starts with young children - following their lead and supporting policies that create environments for the children to be peaceful with one-another. They explore differences naturally when given opportunities. Consistency in a supportive environment working toward human rights throughout the years will bring some changes. This depends on educators valuing teaching toward peace and a commitment to allow children to be the center in educational settings.
ReplyDelete