New Year Musings

Happy New Year!

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It isn't clear how 2021 is going to turn out. The political fissures that grew in 2020 are not going to go away any time soon. American social glue is weak and ways to repair it are not clear. Unfounded conspiracy theories tend to be more persuasive than reality for an angry, insurgent radical right minority. Inconvenient facts, truths and reasoning are all weak and unpersuasive in the eyes of that warring tribe.  

By now it is obvious that an angry minority of Americans have lost some or most of their trust in democracy, including the recent election. They have been persuaded by decades of ruthless propaganda that more authoritarianism and Christianity in government and society generally is their preferred way forward. 

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Given the circumstances, what makes sense? Since appeals to facts and reason are generally ineffective with the angry minority, an emphasis on appeals to emotions and morals seems to make more sense going forward. That calls for a different kind of rhetoric. Of course, one can argue that reliance on a different kind of rhetoric (1) capitulates to unwarranted and unjustified means of interaction, and (2) undermines the proper role of facts and reason in politics. It also raises the issue of the morality. If one resorts to lies, deceit, unwarranted emotional manipulation and partisan motivated reasoning, that is a win for darkness and ignorance and a loss for facts, reason and honest democracy. 

What to do differently, if anything, is not clear. I'm personally uncomfortable with significantly abandoning facts and reasoning, which tend to be more objective than dealing with emotions and morals. And, I don't know how to directly speak to emotions and morals.

Some time to cogitate on this is called for. Maybe over the next few days or weeks, something will emerge from the fog.