General Discussion

Less than 20 years ago this may have been true, since most Americans still got there news from traditional outlets. Even though news papers were dying, and a lot of independent outlets were being gobbled up, most people still relied on TV or written news. However, with both the left and the right attacking mainstream media, and the proliferation of social media and influencers, most people now get their information from social media sources believing that they are somehow less tainted, because you can now do your own research. Heck, look at DU and see how many people attack polls and the mainstream media. It is even worse on right wing sites with Trump always complaining about Fake News.

Thanks to the current information infrastructure, which rewards content that goes viral, the most popular social media posts will be tend to be the most provocative or divisive. Look at DU. Start of a post with the name of a well known progressive and discuss a quote where they attack other Democrats. I guarantee that it will start to trend with people debated and arguing. Sure, some of it may just be bots, but divisiveness will always gain traction.

The Republicans have embraced and leaned into this. Find a group to resent whether it be a minority group, the homeless, immigrants, LGBT, college graduates, public employees, and scapegoat them and thanks to the fragmented nature of social media, you can do this with impunity, because most people do not get their news from mainstream media or traditional journalists these days. Even better, when false stories circulate, people will blame traditional journalists for failing to publish the truth.

Thanks to our current information infrastructure Americans are isolated, insure, and resentful of their fellow Americans. Democrats will either need to lean into the hate to start winning elections the way Democrats did in the 1900’s, because progressives have lost the ability to communicate with non-progressives in the real world. At best, progressives can only vent in safe spaces like DU where we convince ourselves that most people believe what we believe and have not embraced detesting people who are not like themselves.

Look at Medicaid. We assume that this will be unpopular, but Republicans will just highlight how immigrants, disabled people, minorities, the poor, homeless, etc., are unjustly getting benefits for being lazy, and by appealing to the wide spread hate and isolation of Americans, this will probably be a winner.

If Democrats want to win with a progressive message, then they have to engage with people in the real world, rather just holing up in safe spaces like DU. We need to put down the cell phone and interact with people IRL. But this is hard. So, perhaps we will just stick to venting on DU.