Articulating some everyday, non-groundbreaking thoughts I’ve had for a while.
Until last week I used to get really annoyed with politicians.
The hypocrisy, outright lies, and self-interest masquerading as empathy was all too much. Coupled with wasting too much time on social media, it wasn’t a productive recipe for me. Clip after clip, scroll after scroll, I’d linger on the same few questions. Why won’t journalists ask them hard questions? Why don’t people call them out for dodging questions and sidestepping into intern-written robotic talking points? Does nobody else realize that these people want power over anything else?
After JD Vance got picked as Trump’s running mate, and the internet sleuths starting piecing together his prior beliefs, something clicked in my head and I realized that politicians really just don’t care. In this case, JD Vance’s intellectual foundation is whatever’s the flavor of the month. The man who once said that Trump is “noxious and is leading the white working class to a very dark place”1 is now his VP pick. This isn’t anything new. Obama was against gay marriage until he was absolutely sure there would be no political blowback. Kamala Harris was anti-fracking until last week.
Politics is a world of contradiction. The flip-flopping drives everyone up the wall. We feel victorious when we catch politicians contradicting themselves but it’s short lived: the duration of collective memory is a week (tops). Politicians win by saying what they think we want to hear. They don’t care if they lose voters who feel betrayed when they backtrack. No problem. Sayonara. They’re calculated and know they’re likely gaining more votes by appealing to a new base. They will say what they need to no matter how irresponsible the proposed policy, no matter how infeasible, and no matter how illogical. It’s a part of the game. Verbal jiu jitsu.
Media outlets know this too but they don’t care either: they need viewers to be angry. Indifferent viewers mean less revenue. Network rivalries are all for show too (pun intended). The CNN/MSNBC cohort vs the FOX/Newsmax folks looks like a righteous battle for people entrenched on either side. Fine. But, do you think CNN folks go on dinnertime anti-FOX rants with their family? FOX is paying the bills, baby. CNN has no rage bait if FOX doesn’t exist (vice versa). It’s a not-so beautiful day in the neighbourhood.
It’s liberating once you tune this all out. Hours saved doom scrolling on X now available to spend on other social media. Disengagement gets a bad wrap. It doesn’t mean you don’t care; you’re just avoiding the day-to-day minutiae and echo chambers. Echo chambers don’t accomplish anything anyway. Leaving snide comments on other people’s X posts doesn’t do anything. You get clicks. Numbers go up. Maybe you get a share of the ad revenue. But there isn’t anything substantial in that act. You haven’t helped anyone. All you did is try to dunk on someone to feel better about yourself.
It’s all a game. Politicians care about power and will say whatever they think you want to hear. And, social media, in the name of being the global town square, gives you an avenue to scream at someone else on the “other side.”
Stop following the noise. Reclaim your mindshare.
You know who you’re going to vote for anyway.
It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure this out. This was my wake-up call:
I can't remember which year this was, but it's when Bernie and Hillary were both vying of the Democratic nomination. I was a big Bernie fan. Donated twice to his campaign. Being on his email list, I would get emails from him constantly talking about how Hillary was basically the Devil, corrupt, evil, bad for America, etc.
Then when Bernie didn't get the nomination, he sent out an email telling us we should all vote for Hillary. After a year of saying she was corrupt and evil and must be stopped, suddenly, she's actually okay and we should all give her a chance.
So, that's personally what broke me.
I still vote, because I just can't stomach not voting. I would feel like I I was slapping all those women in the face who marched and fought for voting rights. But I'm not losing sleep over who wins.
And you are absolutely right about news media. When Trump left office, political podcasts saw a major dip in listenership. People only tune in when they're scared or outraged. I don't like that business model. It reminds me of Monsters Inc, where they have to scare the kids because their city is powered by children's screams.
I avoid as much politics and humanly possible and the only social media I use is substack. My life is much more peaceful because of it. :)