“A man with conviction is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point.” - Stanford University social psychologist Leon Festinger (1919 - 1989), best known for cognitive dissonance and social comparison theory.
It’s so easy to tell people what you believe in terms of your values, your political leanings, your morals. But it is much harder to describe why you believe the way you do.
Science tells us we are more likely to believe things from someone we perceive as trustworthy. We are also more likely to believe things from people who are like us, including similar to us in terms of career, ethnicity, or socioeconomic levels.
When people form and cling to false beliefs despite overwhelming evidence, the phenomenon is labeled as “motivated reasoning.” As explained in an excellent Newsweek article, “rather than search rationally for information that either confirms or dis-confirms a particular belief, people actually seek out information that confirms what they already believe.”
This is why anti-vaxxers rely so much on one debunked study done long ago by a disgraced scientist who was paid off by pharmaceutical companies. Despite the overwhelming evidence that vaccines do not cause autism, they want so badly to believe that they do, to justify their actions and beliefs, that they will point to anything to continue to believe it. Literally, deluding oneself.
Motivated reasoning can also help explain why the people of the U.S. (and the internet) have such difficulty reasonably and coherently arguing or debating politics. It is a topic that people invest in mentally, emotionally, and sometimes monetarily. And we want to continually reaffirm why we believe the way we do: that our candidate is the best, that we picked the right one.
It also make debating politics with friends, family, and colleagues difficult. We each feel passionately that we are right, that we support the right candidate. And the media certainly doesn’t help. We are bombarded from every station by differing commentary and results on the same topics. Much like religious texts, every political sound byte and statement, every video and every vote, can be spun in a way to support your belief. And when people don’t believe the same things we do, instead of trying to understand why and accept that they feel differently, we most often try to find a better way to explain what we think, to convince them to believe the way we do.
It is incredibly frustrating to live in a country with a two party system, a political system that can take 18+ months to elect a new President. The two party system has a way of easily splitting everyone into “us vs. them,” and it is a horrible mentality to have when trying to decide our next leader. Instead of individual accomplishments or their ability to do the job, we end up saying things like, “Well of COURSE you think that, you’re a REPUBLICAN.” As if it’s a dirty word. And you can just as easily see it replaced with “democrat” in your Facebook feed, and almost everywhere else. Instead of trying to see each others’ point of view, we all continually try to explain why we’re right and you’re wrong.
Instead of Republican vs. Democrat, Red vs. Blue, Us vs. Them, I wish we had the knowledge and the wherewithal to be simply “people who don’t agree, but can listen to facts and make a considered decision about who could best lead our country.”
But no. Instead we have people in the Republican party who have openly decried Trump, claimed they would never support him, but now choose to support him publicly because they have no other real choice. It’s the Republican party, that is the nominee, and they could not possibly support the OTHER SIDE. Again, “us vs. them” does not allow you to cross sides easily. We have rallies and protests that are turning violent, and we have all of these things distracting us from everything else that is happening. The Louisiana floods aren’t getting the attention they deserve and so desperately need, the riots in Milwaukee, the cop shootings around the country.
The two party system divides the people of the “united” states, either intentionally or unintentionally making it’s citizens choose a side, dig in their heels, and then continually justify their choice.
On top of a broken system, we have a ridiculously long period of time with campaigns, money spent, propaganda, and debates before the election.
According to the Chicago Tribune, “In the 2008 [U.S.] presidential race, the candidates spent a total of $1.7 billion, double what was spent in the 2004 race. In the U.K. election, a spending cap of 20 million pounds, about $33 million, was imposed on each of the major parties. Of course, campaigns there are less expensive partly because of a ban on paid radio and TV advertising or any ads on matters of ‘political or industrial controversy.’” They are also limited by their 4-6 week time limit for campaigns before the elections.
NPR reports that, “The U.S. doesn’t have an official campaign season, but the first candidate to jump into the presidential race, Ted Cruz, announced his candidacy on March 23 — 596 days before Election Day. Meanwhile, Canada just wrapped up its latest campaign season. That one was longer than usual — about 11 weeks. To the south, Mexican general election campaigns start 90 days before election day (and have to stop three days prior to the election), with an additional 60-day “pre-campaign” season, in which candidates vie for the nomination.”
The U.S. has no laws as to how long a campaign can last, while many other countries do have laws in place limiting campaign times and spending, along with other restrictions. NPR continues, “In Mexico, a 2007 law limited the length of campaigns. In Argentina, advertisements can begin only 60 days before the election, and the official campaign itself can start only 25 days after that. In France, the presidential campaign is generally only two-weeks long.”
It feels like by the time we even get to the election, Americans are so tired of arguing, debating, listening to candidates and sound bytes, listening to pundits yell at us through TV screens, and the endless bombardment of ads and propaganda, that we just don’t care anymore. We just want it to be over. It’s hard to stay excited for something for a year and a half.
When we someday, one day, start in on campaign reform, I truly hope that campaign lengths and money limits are the first changes to be made. It’s exhausting to be anticipating something for this long, to be angry or offended or upset by a candidate for this long, to be told we should care for such a long period of time. To me, the worst part is that most people I know see issues from both sides and agree with some parts of both party’s points, but again, we are forced to choose one. There is no middle ground in a two party capitalist system.