Perception is Reality.
What people are seeking rather than truth in the hellscape that is 2020.
I am obsessed with the human condition. I’ve spent literal hours trying to figure out how Americans got so divided. I’m looking at intelligent, educated people who seem completely misinformed and they are just as passionate about their version of the story as I am about mine. Except, our stories couldn’t be more different — they totally contradict each other. Both sides are heated, too. But, how?
This is the age of information. Most Americans have access to the internet and could easily read the news to stay informed. We have access to news stories from the full gamut of available media options. Yet, we’re not getting both sides of the story. There are a few reasons why this is happening.
- Social Media Algorithms: Facebook and other platforms use machine learning, computer systems that are able to learn and adapt without following explicit instructions, by using algorithms and statistical models to analyze and draw inferences from patterns in data, to determine what you will spend time looking at. This helps them target content that will keep you on their site as long as possible so they can show you more ads and make more money. If you haven’t watched The Social Dilemma on Netflix, they do a great job of explaining this concept.
- Journalism is under attack from the highest office in the land. Trump has done everything he can to discredit our media and suppress the truth. People who only seek conservative news sources are seeing a completely different version of what’s happening in America than people who choose more moderate or liberal publications. The truth gets lost somewhere in the middle of all the rhetoric, and the research required to find it is daunting. It seems we’re not doing much collective research beyond the news sources we know and trust, which means we’re never getting the whole story about anything.
- People generally do not seek the truth. We seek what we want to see. We look for information that agrees with what we believe to be true, right and real. We tend to recoil from information or ideas that disagree with our values and beliefs. This is called cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is defined as the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change. It’s the discomfort we feel when faced with new ideas or changes to our beloved status quo. This feeling evokes a fear response in us. It can be expressed as anger and indignation. If we can push through all of that drama, we can grow a lot. Recognizing cognitive dissonance for what it is can help us open our minds to hear ideas that are not in alignment with what we believe. Embracing the discomfort of conflict can help us understand why others feel the way they do about things.
I live in the suburbs of Nashville, Tennessee. In my area, you can tell a lot about a person just by their mask habits. People who wear masks here are typically: democrats/liberals, Biden supporters, people who choose science over religion, supporters of black lives matter, the LGBTQ+ community, and women’s rights. We’re reasonable, educated, empathetic people who try to do the right thing for the greater good. Ya know, the bleeding heart granola munching snowflakes.
People who do not wear a mask where I live are typically conservative, Christian, Trump supporters, people who choose religion over science, racist, homophobic, transphobic and/or misogynistic. Even the women are anti women’s bodily autonomy. The cis, straight, white man is king of everything in their world. They think socialism and communism are the same thing. They think the second amendment is the most important one. Some of them also think Jesus is coming back soon, and Trump is here to usher him in.
The mask people are looking at the unmasked people in the grocery store seething. How can they be so disrespectful of others? How can they be so selfish? Rude! The unmasked people are looking at the masked people thinking we’re sheep. Masks don’t even work. You can’t live in fear. The virus isn’t even that bad. Get over it. Because I live in a red state, we do not have a state-wide mask mandate. Our governor has left it up to the local mayors to decide if they wanted a mandate or not. My city mayor is currently Covid positive and my county does not have a mandate in place.
The animosity this is creating between sides is honestly frightening. My twenty-three year old daughter was wearing her mask in a discount store nearby a few weeks ago. A couple walked by without masks, and the guy started running his mouth about how he’d like to “slap the mask right off these stupid bitches”.
They turned the corner and walked down the opposite side of the aisle from my daughter. He kept on about how stupid she was for wearing a mask. After a couple minutes of it, she decided to give him a piece of her mind. As she turned down the aisle toward him, he said, “I’d like to carry that bitch out back and kill her right now.”
My daughter turned around, paid for her items and left the store. She said that was the first time she’s felt unsafe here. She was doing the right thing per the science we have at this point. Wearing a mask protects people around her. Why would anyone threaten to harm my child for wearing a mask, or for any reason at all for that matter?
Trump supporters are a cult of toxic masculinity. Bullies. Loud mouths. Oppressors. The problem is, they think we’re the problem. Libtards. We’re all crybaby pussies because we want everyone to be treated equally. We have these wild ideas like universal health care and higher education for everyone. We would rather ban automatic weapons than see another mass shooting in the news. We are happy to see gay couples getting married and having babies. We believe women have a right to birth control and abortions, and nobody’s religion should be able to dictate the law as it pertains to our reproductive rights. Hell, some of us would legalize recreational weed in all fifty states today and use the tax revenue to wipe out student debt. We’re crazy like that. We believe people should have their basic needs covered so they can focus on enjoying their lives instead of struggling every day to survive.
How can we ever see eye to eye?
The honest to god answer is, I don’t think it’s possible under our current administration. Trump is inflammatory and divisive. He’s got white supremacists all in a lather. The Michigan Militia was going to kidnap the Governor and he has yet to say a peep about how monumentally unacceptable that sort of thing is. Trump is dangerous, and the people who support him are too. They are misinformed to the point of being a public health and safety hazard. They’re the guns and Jesus people who still think women are property and the earth is flat. They are standing back and standing by for the grand wizard in chief to give his next round of orders.
Education is needed all around. I know we are all completely exhausted with this year and all its bullshit, but this is not the time to look away. We are rewriting history in America right now. We are paying off the karmic debt left behind by our founding fathers and the colonizers who built our dying shell of a democracy on the backs of slaves three hundred years ago. We are atoning for the blood shed by the indigenous people who were slaughtered by European settlers and driven from their land. We are watching the GOP divide itself as some cling to Trump and others pull away. Our healthcare system is falling apart, exposing the evils of our for-profit model that allows people to make billions of dollars on the suffering of others. Religion is declining as people reach beyond tradition to find deeper experiences and meaning for their lives.
All of these institutions are breaking down with a purpose. Sometimes it’s necessary to burn everything to the ground and start fresh. That’s essentially what America is doing now. This is painful and frightening but necessary. Like labor pains. Meaningful change is coming, and with a high cost. Now is the time to speak up and let your voice be heard in the voting booth and beyond. Get involved. Get informed. Get loud because we need the whole world to hear us right now. We’re better than this, and we will do whatever it takes to make America bearable again — and kind, and decent and smart. We will restore order and start repairing the damage done to our global reputation, economy and businesses. We will fight Covid-19 and we will win… as soon as we all get on the same page with science and figure out how to work together. Until then, quarantine continues, indefinitely.