JACKSON — We are living in modern-day Babel, “unable to speak the same language or recognize the same truth.”
So says Jonathan Haidt in his disturbing essay “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid,” published in The Atlantic.
His research and findings are a little scary:
“The story of Babel is the best metaphor I have found for what happened to America in the 2010s, and for the fractured country we now inhabit. Something went terribly wrong, very suddenly. We are disoriented, unable to speak the same language or recognize the same truth. We are cut off from one another and from the past.
“It’s been clear for quite a while now that red America and blue America are becoming like two different countries claiming the same territory, with two different versions of the Constitution, economics, and American history.
“But Babel is not a story about tribalism; it’s a story about the fragmentation of everything. It’s about the shattering of all that had seemed solid, the scattering of people who had been a community. It’s a metaphor for what is happening not only between red and blue, but within the left and within the right, as well as within universities, companies, professional associations, museums, and even families.”
Haidt blames the proliferation and uncontrolled transformation of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter from “harmless” information disseminators to “corrosive” propaganda machines. “By 2013, social media had become a new game, with dynamics unlike those in 2008,” he wrote.” The “like” button, “retweet” option and unfiltered comments “encouraged dishonesty and mob dynamics.”
He said the three major forces that hold together successful democracies are under attack — “social capital (extensive social networks with high levels of trust), strong institutions, and shared stories.”
Research shows, he said, “Social media has weakened all three” with its “continual chipping-away of trust.”
One key area impacted, he noted, has been the local school classroom. “The motives of teachers and administrators come into question, and overreaching laws or curricular reforms sometimes follow, dumbing down education and reducing trust in it further.”
He also cited events such as Occupy Wall Street, which called for the “destruction of existing institutions without offering an alternative vision of the future or an organization that could bring it about.”
Fixing this issue will not be easy, if at all possible, Haidt laments. “American democracy is now operating outside the bounds of sustainability.” His recommended solutions: “harden democratic institutions so that they can withstand chronic anger and mistrust, reform social media so that it becomes less socially corrosive, and better prepare the next generation for democratic citizenship in this new age.”
So, who can make this happen? Haidt sees “members of Gen Z — those born in and after 1997” as American democracy’s potential saviors.
Can we survive until then?
Take time to read Haidt’s essay yourself at https://bit.ly/3xYUXYr.
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. — Ephesians 4:32
- Bill Crawford, of Jackson, is a Republican former state lawmaker.
