Rising Hatred for the Opposition Is a Threat to Our Democracy
In the 1960s, roughly 5 percent of U.S. parents said they would be unhappy if their child married someone from an opposing political party. Jump to 2019—that number has risen to over 30 percent—a fivefold increase (Annenberg School for Communications, 2019).
Only 26 percent of Democrats view Republicans as honest, but 89 percent are willing to classify them as racist. Similarly, 84 percent of Republicans consider Democrats to be hateful, but a mere 17 percent would define them as reasonable. Both parties top 85 percent in the belief that their opponent is brainwashed (More in Common, 2019).
15 percent of Republicans believe that the country would be better off if large numbers of their opposition party would just die. That number rises to 20 percent for Democrats. (Psych of Tech Institute, 2020). How have we reached such heightened levels of resentment that a substantial number of the population sees a mass casualty event as the best solution?
Hetherington and Weiler (2018) compare the body politic to the human body, in which cells need to communicate with one another to maintain overall health. But because of differing worldviews, these “cells”—fixed and fluid—are growing further apart and have become less and less likely to encounter one another. From residential preferences to occupation—chosen extracurriculars to favorite watering holes—interaction between Republicans and Democrats has been drastically on the decline. The body politic has developed “a political sclerosis” (Hetherington & Weiler, 2018, p. 60).
With these reduced inter-party exchanges, it becomes easier to caricaturize one’s opponents. All Democrats become tree-hugging, bi-sexual yoga instructors who gather with their Antifa buddies to smash storefront windows over the weekends. All Republicans become racist, beer-guzzling big game hunters who proudly drive their Ford F150 through the town square on Friday nights, flying their “Stop the Steal” flags in a Trump train.
Social media plays a significant role in contributing to this sharp polarization. Psychology professor Jonathan Haidt attributes this to features such as the “Like” button, “Retweet” button, and the algorithmic newsfeed, which caters to individuals based on their interaction with the site (Psych of Tech Institute, 2019). These algorithms essentially have created an “outrage machine,” in which sites like Facebook and Twitter can enhance their profits by relying on moral outrage to keep people glued to their screens (Psych of Tech Institute, 2019).
But what happens when a country’s citizenry becomes “addicted to outrage” (Psych of Tech Institute, 2019)? Focusing on the trivial distracts the public from achieving substantive systematic reform. Psychology professor Molly Crocket argues that by “indiscriminately dialing up the volume on outrage,” we’ve created a society unable to “distinguish between the truly heinous and merely disagreeable” (Psych of Tech Institute, 2019). If every differing opinion constitutes a moral atrocity, is there a middle ground left to stand on?
The past thirty years have seen a considerable rise in affective polarization—increasingly negative feelings towards the opposition party and its leaders (Abramowitz, 2019, p. 164). Thus, the phenomenon of negative partisanship has emerged—“Democrats and Republicans now dislike the opposing party more than they like their own” (Abramowitz, 2019, p. 164). While a 2016 Clinton voter might not have been particularly fond of giving her a seat in the Oval Office, she was less repellant than Trump. Casting one’s vote is now seen as a lesser of two evils scenario.
Mouffe (2016) argues that although conflict is necessary for a democratic society, the best way to reach a “rational consensus” is to transform our political system from an antagonistic one to an agonistic one. To view politics not as a struggle between enemies, rather a struggle between adversaries (Mouffe, 2016). Debate and differing opinions are healthy for policy discussions—claiming that the other party is intent on destroying the country is not. There must be an acknowledgment that despite the policy disagreements, there is a “share[d] a common allegiance to the democratic principles of ‘liberty and equality for all’” (Mouffe, 2016).
The party elites in recent years have done nothing to improve relations, using progressively vitriolic language and attack ads to denigrate their opponents (Annenberg School for Communication, 2019). From Clinton’s characterization of Trump supporters as a “basket of deplorables” to Trump’s rally chants of “lock her up,” neither side seems interested in turning down the political temperature. That poison spreads to their political followers.
With hostility on the rise, a growing number of Americans have become apathetic to democracy entirely. While 72 percent of those born prior to World War II state that it is essential to live in a democracy, only 30 percent of millennials hold that viewpoint (Foa & Mounk, 2017). Alarmingly, 1 in 6 Americans have expressed approval for military rule as an alternative (Foa & Mounk, 2017).
This growing hatred among parties cultivated by the elites, along with rapidly commonplace win-at-all-costs attitudes, is an existential threat to American democracy. Ignore it at your own peril.
References
Abramowitz, A.I. (2019). The great alignment: Race, party transformation, and the rise of Donald Trump. Yale University Press.
Annenberg School for Communication. (2019, March 25). Affective polarization: Understanding division in American politics [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGzzs72W1LQ
Foa, R. S., & Mounk, Y. (2017). The signs of deconsolidation. Journal of Democracy, 28(1), 5-15. https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/02_28.1_Foa-Mounk-pp-5-15.pdf
Hetherington, M., & Weiler, J. (2018). Prius or pickup?: How the answers to four simple questions explain America’s great divide. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
More in Common. (2019). The perception gap. https://perceptiongap.us/
Mouffe, C. (2016). Democratic politics and conflict: An agonistic approach. Politica comun, 9. https://doi.org/10.3998/pc.12322227.0009.011
Psych of Tech Institute. (2020, October 29). How social media divides us [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPcFmfa0qFU
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