Decoupling vs. Validation

ties severed, ties secured

As we try to figure out what just happened, it seems to me that a remarkable decoupling has occurred between what people think and what people do. These poll results are less than a month old:

Just 7% of Americans have "a great deal" of trust and confidence in the media, and 27% have "a fair amount." Meanwhile, 28% of U.S. adults say they do not have very much confidence and 38% have none at all in newspapers, TV and radio. Notably, this is the first time that the percentage of Americans with no trust at all in the media is higher than the percentage with a great deal or a fair amount combined.

So no one trusts the news media, but a sizable number of voters just voted on the premise that they’re scared of election-denying extremist Republicans. They believe what they were told, but they don’t trust the people who told them. They absorbed the message while feeling pretty sure that they hated the messenger.

1.) I’m very concerned about the direction our country is headed!

2.) I’m voting for the party in power!

I’m very concerned about inflation, so I support the plan to add trillions of dollars in new debt-funded federal spending to the economy.

The connection between causes and effects has been broken.

And that result validates a number of institutional choices.

It validates the Red Speech. The President of the United States told Americans to fear and hate other Americans who disagree with him; despite the apparent uninterest or hostility of a good portion of the population to that message, the message got through. The people who write the words that come out of Joe Biden’s mouth have learned today that their approach works. They’ll do more of it.

It validates news media fearmongering and hysteria. “Mainstream” journalists will conclude that their approach worked as intended. They’ll do more of it.

It validates anti-discourse discourse, the refusal to debate or discuss. Political candidates have watched the success of candidates who refused to debate opponents or answer unpleasant questions. They’ll do more of it.

It validates gaslighting — oh, right, schools were closed, you moron! (eyeroll) — and labeling instead of arguing. The mega MAGA extremists!

It validates Covid authoritarianism.

The decoupling of thought and action, or the severing of events and choices from reactions and results, solidifies most of the worst pathologies of the American political order. I’m voting to re-elect Governor Gretchen Whitmer, ‘cause she’s done a good job! That’s gonna cost us.