Chapter 6: The Polarization Cycle
“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” Sir Isaac Newton’s third law of motion
The New Culture Arrived:
***Good Intentions Gone Awry
-rising political polarization
-cross-party animosity
-rising levels of teens anxiety and depression
-changes in parenting practices
-the decline of free play
-the growth of campus bureaucracy
-the rising passion for justice in response to major national events, combined with changing ideas about what justice requires
The Boiling Point:
A set of new ideas about speech, violence, and safety has emerged on the far left in recent years, and the debate on campus is largely a debate within the left, pitting (mostly) older progressives, who generally have an expansive notion of free speech, against (mostly) younger progressives, who are more likely to support some limitations on speech in the name of inclusion.”
-within the larger society, there has been a steadily growing more divided, angry, and polarized
-we see the left and the right locked into a game of mutual provocation and reciprocal outrage
***by our coddled youth or intolerant liberalism
Issue Polarization:
-the distance between Republicans and Democrats, on a set of 10 policy questions has grown very large since 2004 (even with the differences between race, gender, education, and age have not changed much since 1994 per Pew Research Center)
–sides are moving farther away on a broad set of moral and political issues
-it stands to reason that you would feel more and more negatively toward them
-American National Election Study measures a “feeling thermometer”
-this survey asks respondents to rate a variety of groups and institutions on a scale of 0 (unfavorable) - 100 (favorable)
-American’s feelings about their own party have barely changed since the 1971s
-American's feelings about the other party has become increasingly hostile since the 1990s
1940s-1980s:
-this was a period of unusually low political polarization and cross-party animosity
-generally high levels of social trust and trust in government
-American politics was centrist and bipartisan
-the country faced a series of common challenges and enemies including the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War
The Shift:
-the loss of a common enemy
-this lead to more intratribal conflict
-we live in increasingly economically and politically segregated communities right down the city block
-the Republican party becomes disproportionately older, white, rural, male, and Christian
-the Democrat party is increasingly young, nonwhite, urban, female, and non-religious
“The result is the differences in party affiliation go hand in glove with differences in world view and individuals’ sense of social and cultural identity.”
-the media environment has changed in that it fosters division
-1990s: there was cable news channel for most points on the political spectrum
-2000s: there was a website or discussion group for every conceivable interest group or grievance
-2010s: social media sites made it easy to encase oneself within an echo chamber
Ex. Facebook, X (TWitter), etc…
-search engines (filter bubble) and YouTube algorithms designed to give you more of what you seem to be interested in
This led to:
-conservatives and progressives: disconnected moral matrices backed up by mutually contradictory informational worlds
-both physical and electronic isolation from people we disagree with
-forces of confirmation bias, groupthink, and tribalism to push us still further apart
-increased bitter hostility in Congress
-combative norms filtered down to the Senate
-control shifting back and forth several with so much at stake norms of civility and possibilities for bipartisanship have nearly disappeared
“Parties [have] come to view each other not as legitimate rivals, but as dangerous enemies.”
Negative partisanship: unfortunate change in the dynamics of American politics
-meant that American politics is driven less by hope and more by the Untruth of Us versus Them
-they must be stopped at all costs
Affective polarization: the degree to which members of each party feel negatively toward the other party
“Prior to the era of polarization, ingroup favoritism, that is, partisans’ enthusiasm for their party or candidate, was the driving force behind political participation. More recently, however, it is hostility toward the out-party that makes people more inclined to participate.”
-American are now motivated to leave their couches to take part in political action not by love for their party’s candidate but by the hatred of the other party’s candidate
-Americans now bear such animosity toward one another that it’s almost as if many are holding up signs saying, “Please tell me something horrible about the other side, I’ll believe anything!”
-American are now easily exploitable through large networks of profit-driven media sites, political entrepreneurs, and foreign intelligence agencies are taking advantage of this vulnerability
-faculty and students at universities have shifted to the left since the 1990s
-there has been built an “outrage industry”
-mainstream media overall leans left
-campus activism increased in 2015
-right-wing media makes fun and stirs up anger over "political correct” practices
-there is a rising expression of anger directed against conservative speakers trigger the off campus right to direct anger to the left and the cycle repeats
Outrage from the Off-Campus Right:
Left = on campus protests, shout-downs, open letters, and witch hunts
-the left dominates most college campuses
Right = engage in moralistic, aggressive, and intimidating actions aimed at campuses too
Social media = increase of harassment, mob mentality planning, doxxing the so called enemy, threats of violence, inciting through videos
Increase of separation labeling and events:
-”all black” Memorial Day party
-”white privilege”
-”white genocide” (term used by white nationalist groups to express fear that mass immigration and racial intermarriage will eventually lead to the extinction of white people)
Both sides: the right-wing can be wrong too
Ex. Professor posted “All I want for Christmas is White Genocide”
-invented by white supremacists used to denounce everything from interracial relationships to multicultural policies
-professor stated it is a figment of the racist imagination and should be mocked
-the right-wing harassed through media outlets, internet mobs, and threats of violence and death directed at him and his family
-the professor ended up resigning at the end of year of the post going viral
Ex. Professor called President Trump “a racist and sexist megalomaniac” who poses a threat to students’ futures
-the news publicized excerpts from her speech which they called an “anti-POTUS tirade”
-the professor received hate-filled and threatening emails
-due to the threats her future scheduled speeches were canceled
Left-wing Ex.
-2017, Asst. Professor Bond wrote an article, “Why We Need to Start Seeing the Classical World in Color”
-white marble statues are everywhere, but she had pointed out historically ancient Greek and Roman statues were usually painted with skin tones and bright colors, but when these buried and weathered statues were rediscovered during the Renaissance, the paint had worn off and the white aesthetic became the ideal
-she claimed that “white” was an erroneous idea if idealized “white” human form
-problem: there was no concept of a “white” race in ancient times
-her claim was that white statues “provides further ammunition for white supremacists today, including groups like Identity Evropa, who use classical statuary as a symbol of what male superiority.”
Then:
-the outrage machine went into action
-a university professor posted: using white marble in sculptures is racist and creates “white supremacy”
-another professor posted: “White marble” actually influences “white supremacist” ideas
Then:
-then the right jumped on board calling for Bond to be fired, a deluge of online abuse, and even death threats
-a post from the right stated, “Liberal professors say bizarre things–and then blame the conservative media for reporting on them.”
-a post from the left stated, “Liberal professors say things—and then conservative media report them as if professors are crazy.”
The polarization cycle influencing university life since 2017:
-left-wing professor says or writes something provocative or inflammatory on social media
-the statement is often a reaction to perceived injustices committed by right-wit groups or politicians off campus (this is shared on social media)
-right-wing media outlets pick up the story and then retell it in ways that amplify the outrage and may take it out of context or sometimes add distorting facts
-hundreds of people hear about it and write angry posts or comments on social media
-these usually include racist or sexist slurs, and even includes threats of rape or death
-people call for the university to fire the professor
-meanwhile, college administration fails to defend the professor and may include an investigation
-the professor is then put on leave and if untenured is at high risk of being fired or not having the contract renewed
***the right focuses on what the professor said or wrote, the left focuses on the racist/sexist reaction to it
So, with their anger fortified, people on both sides are primed to repeat the cycle
“This pattern is different from the pattern when professors arouse the ire of students on campus, and calling someone racist or demanding that they be disinvited is not way equivalent to making rape or threats.”
Distinction is recognized in the Law:
-the First Amendment does not protect credible rape or death threats, those are criminal
-doesn’t matter right or left, the university leadership is usually weak and often doesn’t support the professor
-things spiral rapidly out of control
-observers on the left and the right draw the same conclusion: the other side is evil
-one slip or one simple misunderstanding would lead to vilification and even threats from any number of sources
-professors are being closely watched because of their politics
Threat Comes to Campus:
-incidents of hate crimes increased in 2015
-5% increase in 2016
-in 201, there was a 20% rise in reported hate crimes compared to the first eight months of 2016
-a widespread perception on campus that hate crimes are increasing
-on campus, threats take concrete and terrifying forms
-there is a new wave of racial intimidation moving through college campuses
“Political life and discourse in the United States is at a boiling point, and nowhere is the reaction to that more heightened than on college campuses.”
***changes in adolescent mental health and in the nature of American childhood may have rendered many current students more easily burned by the “boiling” that they find once they arrive on campus
Sum:
-polarization, which means that people who identify with either of the two main political parties increasingly hate and fear the other party and the people in it
-university students and faculty have shifted leftward during the time of rising cross-party hatred
-universities have begun to receive less trust and more hostility from some conservatives and right-leaning organizations
-high profile professors being harassed on social media has increased
-rising political polarization is accompanied by increase in racial and political provocation