Our Political Future and the Realities Within It
It was very clear how present social media was in the 2016 American election. From fake news that shared threatening, but believable information, to the filter bubbles that protected a large democratic population from the republican conversation and visa versa, to the I-called-it-first and quick-to-post mentality that flourishes on platforms like Facebook, Reddit and Twitter, it is evident that no election in the western world will be the same moving forward.
To reflect on the 2016 America election for a moment, the reality of society’s desire for change is undeniable, but at the same time the current state of many lives is that they are floating within the bottom two tiers of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, those being the basic needs, ultimately resulting in a society that is going to be swayed by undeniable emotion and (seemingly) powerful passion. Simply put, so many people are struggling to feed their families or find safety in their home that the rationality and sensibility that was Hillary Clinton was lost within the uncontrollable emotion of Donald Trump. Trump created a post truth bubble, post truth being defined as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief” (Oxford Living Dictionaries, 2016), for those searching for security.
On top of this whole idea of post truth exists filter bubbles, which have perhaps never been as distorting as in this election. Due to the fact that many people consume information from either their own social media platforms or traditional media outlets that they enjoy (aka that align with their beliefs) we have come to live within information that is appealing and/or of liking to us. To many in Canada the idea of Trump being President was absolutely appalling, and because we were able to see the situation as a whole we existed within this larger, third party perspective filter bubble (am I in a filter bubble just for thinking/saying that?) that led us to dire disbelief of the fact that Trump could possibly win.
Now, to slide this over to the Black Mirror episode, The Waldo Moment, we see the exact same situation unfold, right down to the nitty gritty details. A TV personality that is rather unlikable and has no affiliation with politics is pulled into the idea of running in an election ultimately because they were power hungry. Society is tired of the same old politician and is searching for change, resulting in an emotional appeal by the otherwise ridiculous candidate. Although the similarity between this TV show episode from 2013 and the reality of 2017 America is slightly horrifying, the story that is being pushed by both of them is one of an undeniable change of a rather tired political system.
Moving forward, future candidates in not just the Canadian 2019 election, but in many future elections in the West will have to appeal to the emotional state of the public, especially in a time of such uncertainty around the world. Although I almost regret to say this, perhaps there are lessons that can be learned from characters such as Trump and Waldo. Their candidness and ability to draw media attention created conversation around them and their platforms. It was clear after these candidate saw success that non-traditional politics is taking hold and almost sought after by dozens of groups within society. The need for proactive conversation on platforms like social media would allow politicians the ability to reach individuals otherwise unreachable. Social media is simultaneously a gateway for properly crafted objective information with an emotional touch (is this what we would consider the Trudeaus good at?) as well as the threatening yet realistic creation of more and more filter bubbles, ultimately hiding people from reality. Politicians of the future will be tasked with not only appealing to access, emotion and objective truth, but will have to find ways to cut through the filter bubbles that currently exist and will continue to be created. Really, we need a creative problem solver and a party that is willing to back them. But ultimately, I suppose, this question remains: can the appeal to emotion not negate the circumstance and objective fact that just is?
