#WOKE: Demagogues in the Age of Social Media
If I were to really think about what i thought was one of the most influential aspects of the last election, I’d say that without a doubt it had to be Donald Trump’s Twitter account. Social Media enables people to access a world of information and people they would otherwise have zero contact with in the real world. It also enables you to shelter yourself in your own manufactured bubble of ideologies and beliefs, which is exactly how Donnie uses Twitter to his advantage.
As most of us do, Trump has managed to create his own version of a filter bubble. He does not follow, nor give the time of day to those with opinions or beliefs that contradict his own. As a result, he feeds himself with only the information he wants to hear, giving no fair chance of arguing anything with anyone opposite to himself, and in turn spews out his own hateful speech. Irresponsibly, Trump seemingly just tweets out whatever comes to mind, deepening the polarization between those who do not support him and those who do. The latter take to his delusions immediately and his hate speech built on a blatant disregard for discussion somehow becomes fact. His rabid supports spring on anyone who might oppose him, cutting off any possibility for conversation. Nobody is gatekeeping here, let alone stopping to check if what he is saying has any merit to it. Its scary to think that people will blindly follow whatever he says on the internet before even taking the time to learn for themselves if any of what he says has any truth to it. During the campaign period, I heard over and over again that people liked Trump because he spoke his mind, or said what others were afraid to say. His vulgar disposition that earned him popularity as a TV personality had carried over into the political world, perpetuating his persona. This is frightening because it seems to me that morals didn’t really play a large part in deciding whether or not it was right to support him. Seeing as it has transformed the idea of a traditional campaign, Social Media absolutely enables demogogues like Donald Trump to succeed politically, as it acts as a distraction from his backwards ideologies and draws attention to the persona, rather than the ideas.
I’d like to be optimistic and say that theres a level playing field when it comes to social media’s role in politics. We saw the support for Hillary Clinton. It was obvious that people were on her side, knowing very well that she was qualified and ready to take on the job. With every tweet from Trump distracting voters from the conversation at hand, Hillary continued to exemplify reason and progress as her main ideologies. Thats not to say that she was completely morally sound, but clearly she was the better choice compared to Donald Trump and his angry rhetoric. Knowing what we know now in the Post-Trump Election era, I’d like to say the chances of a reconciler like Oprah winning the election are doubled. I’d even go as far as to say that it would be a clear choice to not side with someone like Trump again, as even his supoporters are beginning to question his judgement. We know more now than we ever have, and by the time the next election comes around, I feel that people will judge a little harsher than they did in 2016.
