Like most Americans, I was an observer of the 2016 Presidential campaign. I was disturbed by the usual suspects, the lying, particularly on the part of the Trump campaign, the uneven coverage of the candidates by the media, and the hysteria of the crowds at Mr. Trump's rallies.
I know Mr. Trump used a lot of trial balloons, comments thrown out to see how the audience would react. Words or lines that got a laugh or cheers were added to Mr. Trump's repertoire. These could be used and enhanced in future speeches.
I noticed that two years and more after the campaign, and Mr. Trump is now president, these words not only work to inspire nearly insane responses on the part of Mr. Trump's audiences, but those responses are immediate and louder than ever, even though many have been proven untrue. What is going on?
In the past weeks and months, we have been slowly learning about a whole collection of players who cheated on behalf of the Trump campaign. Facebook gave up mounds of data that was used to target voters in ways that are ethically questionable, all done without the consent of the Facebook users. Russia sent bots to interfere in our election.
The targeted voters were those who were most likely to support Mr. Trump (or one of the other Republican candidates in the race), ultimately, Mr. Trump alone. Mr. Trump's rallies were open pretty much only to supporters. Anyone who protested might be ejected or in some other way abused by the crowd. Mr. Trump's handlers took care of all of this, but is hard to believe Mr. Trump was unaware of it. He certainly did use it.
If a significant proportion of voters are primed to respond reflexively, wildly to words like wall, Crooked Hillary, immigrants, coal, Mexicans, fake news, they can be induced to believe Mr. Trump is the one who will take care of their fears and anger related to these. And, as a white male, he will not be Obama, the person Mr. Trump implies destroyed their precious country.
All of these trigger words involve lies on the part of Mr. Trump. His wall would be built by Mexico. Hillary Clinton has done something, supposedly related to emails or Ben Gazi, that is indictable. Mexicans are rapists, and immigrants are criminals. Good coal jobs are coming back. The mainstream media produces fake news; only those sources that like Mr. Trump are producing real news. And, Mr. Trump thinks he invented the term "fake news."
It does not take much effort to identify the lies, so why don't the "believers" check it out? I suspect it is a kind of mass hypnosis. This can happen when one is in a crowd where everyone seems to share a world view. Everyone yells and cheers at the same words and phrases, and everyone has a common enemy or target. It is possible that every time the word is spoken, the response is immediate, and a pleasure hormone is released which helps to fix the connection between the speaker, the word, and the good feeling. Logic/reason has no place here. Those affected may also associate the good feeling with the voice. Whenever they hear Mr. Trump speaking, the associated feelings are aroused again. And, the media certainly does broadcast his voice a lot.
It is hard to counter this effect because even the lies can be manipulated to seem true. We'll build the wall and pay for it, but through trade, we'll make Mexico pay. We'll subsidize a few coal companies to keep a few jobs so it will look like coal is coming back, then, we'll cut assistance for renewable energy so there will be a bigger demand for coal.
When people are hypnotized, they don't stop to consider their responses because their actions just must be right. Right?
To help these sufferers, the mainstream media must step up. When Mr. Trump or any of his surrogates lies, the lies must be identified as such, not just occasionally, but all the time. They can use terms like not true. false, untrue, unfounded to mix it up a bit. The identification of a statement as a lie must be clear whatever word is used. And, when Mr. Trump or his surrogates call someone else's words a lie, the statement must be quickly checked. If the claim is true, that must be called too. If it is a lie about someone else's true statement or act, that must be forcefully identified as a lie.
Then, social media need to step up and police their services. Manipulative bots need to be shut down and reports from users about these bots need to be taken seriously and addressed. Human beings are susceptible to manipulation because we are often not prepared for the level of lying and deceit out there. We all need to value truth over the lies no matter where it leads. This can be a threat to those in power, but so what. They chose to hold power, so they need to be held accountable, something we citizens have not done for a long time.
Mass hypnosis is not good for anyone, no matter the political leaning, but right now, conservatives are most vulnerable. They need an intervention.
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