Written by: Floyd P. Sours, MA - Psychologist - OPA Member
December, 2018
In our western civilization a bomb has been dropped. The explosion has been felt around the world. Yet that feeling is not what one would expect from a bomb. It is a sinking dark feeling that all is lost for a civilization that has lost its way. The bomb is part of a secret war against free speech, honesty, and an open society. It is partly our own fault. As Pogo, an old cartoon character, once said, "I is seen the enemy and it are us." So what is this bomb... really?
In the last decade there has been a tremendous upsurge in public emotions, particularly in regard to political ideas and elections. The public ratings of our politicians have reached new lows, suggesting a lack of confidence. In fact, since the stock market crash in 2008 electronic media news has produced a huge increase in anxiety for the general public in America.
In an article called "Stress in America" published on November 1, 2017 by the American Psychological Association (APA), Americans reported for the first time that they have significant concern about the future of our nation. They reported symptoms of stress, including anxiety, anger and fatigue. Nearly six in ten adults reported that the current social divisiveness causes them stress when thinking about the nation. This survey was conducted by the Harris Poll on behalf of the APA.
In 2013 the Pew Research Center published an article titled "How the Lehman Brothers crisis impacted the 2008 presidential race." In that article they said '"our public opinion survey data indicate that what had essentially been a deadlocked contest between McCain and Obama before the Lehman meltdown turned into a solid lead for Obama in the weeks that followed." They went on to say that "the financial focus transformed the focus of campaign coverage." In other words, a shift of attention occurred through the media that changed the political climate. It suggests that the way the media present the can actually change things.
It is clear to me that in the 2008 election, significant stress was generated in the general public before the election. While divisive political issues have been around for a long time, the current political polarization made issues even more stressful. Then the financial crisis occurred just prior to the election. That crisis intensified stress for the general public beyond individual human limits. What happened next was quite surprising.
An already weary and anxious public was hit by the shock of the 2008 financial crisis as the stock market reeled sharply down, the suddenness of the crisis, on top of an already intense existential anxiety, altered the focus of a great many Americans. A perceptual shift occurred in the minds of the American voting public. Like an internal bomb, this perceptual shift shattered the intense stress while initiating a regression from reason.
My own personal experience tells me that humans the world over seek pleasant feelings and try to escape thoughts that are unpleasant. Throughout the first half Of the twentieth century news came to us through newspapers, radio and direct contact with other people- In times of crisis unpleasant feelings arose but were tolerable. Even with the advent of television in the 1950's unpleasant feelings were muted and still tolerable, more recently technology and science have upgraded communication by introducing computers, the internet and other electronic gadgets.
These progressive developments, while having tremendous potential for improved communication, also have unpleasant consequences. The American public is largely unaware of these consequences except for a lingering existential anxiety that suggests something is wrong. The bomb we are discussing generated an internal mental explosion that existed for the most part only in our minds. As we watched or listened to the news on our print and electronic media the emotional impact rose above human limits. As unpleasant emotions stifled reason, the urge to escape resulted in a mass avoidance response from conventional media sites.
Now, as you can see, humans have limits when it comes to unpleasantness- When stress overwhelms humans, they ordinarily seek more pleasant environs. When stress becomes unbearable they may become mentally ill or worse. If it is true that people have been experiencing stress and that stress was so intense and prolonged in 2008 that it effected an election, then we need to understand what has occurred that created this anomaly. In other words, how has it come to pass that this mental bombshell continues to be so lethal.
In the past communication only involved radio and print media. When conflicts appeared, they were conveyed via a slow and muted media that tamped down the emotions of the general public to the conflict. Because media was in its youth the result was mostly rational election outcomes. Communication technology, in the beginning, was just a step beyond persons communicating directly with one another.
What is new today is that many of the ways that people managed to be successful in an open society in the past no longer work. Our new information age includes the internet as well as technological innovations like computers and smart phones. Without going into detail, this new age requires enormous new adaptations for all of us living in this new age. However, the pressure to adapt without adequate understanding of the new conditions under which we live is enormous. We enter this age very anxious. Modern technology actually impedes our ability to solve problems. Our new more efficient information technology seems to have numerous veiled problems that our culture chooses to ignore.
Perhaps the most important problem is that in crisis, culture tends to impose stress on its individual members. For centuries that has been the case without many problems. That is because the process of distributing information utilized direct communication and a young radio and print media. It took a long time for the news to arrive and the content was not often accurate or detailed. That all changed when computers and the internet arrived. Communication was instantaneous and involved an intense glut of misinformation. Anything could be news.
The competitiveness of different organizations pressured journalists to exaggerate the content in order to make things newsworthy. Such unorganized drivel tends to make people anxious. In addition, we have a majority Oi journalists who are so locked into their belief systems that they no longer consciously adhere to the professional ethics of journalism. I believe that the giant information process that distributes information to our culture tends to magnify the message to such an extent that sometimes the news triggers hysterical decision-making, as in national elections.
In the past the process of distribution did not play a big part in the emotional life of individual Americans. Today, however, the news media is a major player. The result is that sometimes, particularly when it comes to national elections, the stress and divisiveness builds in individual minds until hysteria sets in. Under stress the result is a forced vote that is irrational. It is a mental bombshell without any external tangible proof. It is the perfect anonymous attack weapon because we have no idea that we've been bombed.
What I have called a bomb is not just an external threat by tyrants. It is an internal state of confusion and chaos associated with hysterical groups tearing at the core of Our civilization. Protests no longer adhere to reasonable complaints. All the while we don't know why things seem so crazy and we don't feel so good either. The tendency is to blame others since traditionally one's problems have been attributed to individuals or groups outside ourselves. The very fact that there is no external tyrant responsible for our hysteria makes us even more unhinged and irrational. We are literally more afraid of anonymous unnamed authority than some single person or group.
In the midst of mental chaos many people in the past have traditionally blamed existing groups and individuals for their internal mental pain without a shred of evidence. We think we have seen the enemy and it is not us, it is them... and they are all narrow-minded, prejudiced, irrational, just plain stupid or some other kind of poppycock. This attack on our well-being is not the traditional visible enemy. It is the enemy within all of us that cannot adapt to the transition from one age to the beginning of another. It is the kind of bomb that makes for a perfect partially invisible war.