Summary: Let’s start the week with an explanation of why the Republic has come to the brink of death, and some possible reforms. It’s a simple and clear story, with an open ending. There are so many possible reforms; all difficult, complex, and of uncertain effect. This post summarizes the major themes during the past few years of the FM website.
Slide by Alberto Brandolini (software development consultant; bio here).
At the 15th International Conference on Agile Software Development,
26 – 30 May 2014, Rome, Italy. Hat tip to a tweet by Captain Crom (@TheAgilePirate).
(1) Tribal propaganda
There are deep force at work producing the daily headlines. Sometimes during the past generation our leaders (both left and right) discovered that they can successfully lie to us. Insights of that kind change the course of nations.
The result was a revolution in American politics: the increased use of outright propaganda by both Left and Right. We accepted it. Truth became tribal for us.
Every society has this to some extent. Leaders tell distorted versions of events to better meet their needs. Histories include myth and erase dark deeds of the past, becoming “Whig history” — a tale of progress leading to the wonderfulness of today. But, as always, magnitudes matter. What distinguishes 21st C America is the degree of falsehood in our view of both the past and present, so great that it degrades our ability to see and understand the world.
This steady diet of fantasy has led to an atrophy of our minds, the pervasive “dumbing down” seen in so many aspect of America life.
To see how far we’ve decayed, I recommend a look at the transcripts of the Lincoln-Douglas debates (also see the Wikipedia entry). They read like term papers of today’s college sophomores. They are longer, more complex and sophisticated than the political “debates” of today, where candidates volley sound-bites with journalists. The L-D debates gave tangible evidence of a vibrant democracy. American will be back on track when we produce something like this.
Let’s not point the finger of blame (or any other finger) at our political activists. Activists do what works. Political debates consist of exaggerations and lies only to the extent that we passively accept them. We have the tools to become well-informed, and minds with which to balance competing theories. We we have become gullible, that’s our problem — not theirs.
Better communication technology only lets us shout our tribal truths faster and louder. We follow our leaders down the easy road …
“… the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”
— the demon Screwtape describing a road to Hell, in The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis
(2) Fighting back
Competition provides the remedy of western society to myths and lies. Truth emerges from the clash of ideas. Left and Right challenge each others’ views, so that over time the public can see what’s real. This process no longer works for us.
Left and Right no longer live in overlapping intellectual worlds. They dismiss facts and reasoning from opponents as a priori invalid. Their opponents cannot convince them because they do not listen. They know. Hence the comment threads of any website with a diverse audiences usually sounds like a monkey house.
What about the great Middle between Left and Right? The Middle has the advantage of greater numbers, but numbers mean nothing by themselves. Resources and commitment produce results. The Left and Right have the people that donate time and money, and the machinery to convert those into candidates and votes.
Worse, the propaganda of Left and Right rules our minds because, as Brandolini says, it takes far more effort to debunk propaganda than it does to manufacture it.
So people become apathetic as the waves of misinformation wash over them, alienated from society and its challenges. The Middle remain isolated atoms, unable to commit to either tribe, unable to resist the propaganda of the Left and Right, unable to generate their own truth, and unable to organize against the extremes.
There are solutions. We have the tools to regain control of America. It starts with the man in the mirror.
- Learning skepticism, an essential skill for citizenship in 21st century America.
- Remembering is the first step to learning. Living in the now is ignorance.
- Swear allegiance to the truth as a step to reforming America.
For More Information
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