Several years ago, the political scientist Michael Bang Petersen, who is based in Denmark, wanted to understand why people share conspiracy theories on the Internet. He and other researchers designed a study that involved showing American participants blatantly false stories about Democratic and Republican politicians, such as Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz, Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump. The subjects were asked: Would you share these stories online?
The results seemed to defy the logic of modern politics or polarization. “There were many people who seemed willing to share any conspiracy theory, regardless of the party it hurt,” Petersen told me. These participants didn’t seem like stable partisans of the left or right. They weren’t even negative partisans, who hated one side without feeling allegiance to the other. Above all, they seemed drawn to stories that undermined trust in every system of power.
Petersen felt as though he’d tapped a new vein of nihilism in modern politics—a desire to rip down the Elites, whatever that might mean. He wanted to know more about what these people were thinking.
This article provides a far too superficial analysis of what is occurring. These American are angry and looking to tear down the institutions around them because they have been lied to again and again about how things are supposed to work. There has been zero accountability for those peddling the lies. Let me give you but one example: NAFTA. It was supposed to benefit everyone – “A rising tide raises all boats”. However, this is economics, not a force of nature. This “rising tide” didn’t raise all boats, only some. The losers were supposed to be retrained. How many obtained jobs paying anything close to what they have lost? This style of deception is used again and again. How often are these “leaders” confronted by the emptiness of their promises? Almost never. A large section of the American public is correctly angry at all leaders. When the public is shown some level of accountability for those decision makers their anger will start to be calmed.
My perspective is that we are experiencing a crisis of existential fear. Without addressing the potential causes or cures, I see three primary response effects : chaos, consolidation of power, and escapism. These overlapping issues seem to explain all of the conditions described in today’s articles. Fear is killing us. What do we do about it?
Your perspective is well founded. Note, however, how fear has been used to drive this society from the time of the red scares, through 9/11 with a targeting of Muslims. This has been then followed by the on going demonization of immigrants. Leading the population to fear is not leadership. When the population learns of its manipulation and lets go of its fear, the elites in the country will have much to account for.