Tick, Tock, Schlock and Shock

He says. She says. The sky is falling. The sky is blue. Point, counterpoint. In any discussion thread, there are no doubt strong differences of opinion. Filled with competing claims, stock narratives, and old shibboleths. Since the beginning of this election cycle, I have often wondered about what motivates people, not necessarily the motivations of candidates (who often appear as two-dimensional caricatures), but the motivations of supporters, cultists and voters. 

At one extreme is a candidate with an obvious character disorder, a man who claims he will make America GRR8 with appeals to bigotry and H8. For months, we have witnessed his grandiosity, his fixation on power, his need for constant admiration, his ruthless and often malicious disregard for others, and his tendency to defame, devalue, derogate, insult, and blame. Yet, he has fervent followers who ignore these flaws (and not all followers are "idiots" or “stupid").

Here is a snapshot of politics in America today:

Deception. Defamation. Pander. Slander. Smears and jeers. Sophistry and hyperbole. Our media is a supermarket of mendacities and sleaze.

Let me offer this conjecture based on “motivated reasoning” and “cognitive bias.” Motivated reasoning explains how people cling to false beliefs despite overwhelming evidence that contradicts those beliefs.

Cognitive bias explains why people deny or turn tone-deaf to new evidence that might change their thinking. And why they filter information that might invalidate their attitudes and core beliefs. Partisanship and politics are not necessarily about seeking evidence or truth, or distinguishing between right or wrong, but about defending our sense of personhood.

Without taking sides, here are questions we should ask ourselves: Are we willing to look in a mirror and confront our own biases? Are we willing to sift through the media noise and separate fact from fiction? 

Here is the irony. At the end of this election, it is not the candidates whom we will hold accountable. Rather, we should hold ourselves accountable for the choices we make.