A Facebook post announced this candlelight vigil in front of a county jail, where a minister spoke to the group in support of people being detained by ICE.
When we survive the current assault on our representative democracy in America (and we will), it will take years, decades perhaps, to clean up the mess. A big part of that will be the need to rehabilitate the beliefs and misbeliefs of people who have succumbed to a political cult, a vacuous populism enthralled by a demagogue.
The key will be to find a way to replace the irrational and emotional mindset with one more realistic and rational. Some will never recover, due to personality, biology, and life experiences. Many will respond to compassionate re-education. Evidence of the two mindsets is on display in a brief content analysis of Facebook posts by local political groups.
In the days when newspapers, news magazines, and television newscasts mattered, students and scholars studying a particular outlet would conduct a content analysis. They counted and categorized all the stories in each day’s publication or broadcast. The following analysis helped to make judgments and better understand important issues in society, and the particular news media’s role and position on the issues.
Today, content analysis must be directed at social media. (My limited use of Facebook lands mostly on news about close family and friends. I avoid the feed and start with Search to see if family or friends have posted anything. Occasionally I will use it for research about an individual or group, understanding that any information gathered has not been fact-checked.)
It took some determination to conduct a very brief, informal content analysis of the Facebook pages of the local Republican and Democratic parties, and the county’s Indivisible chapter. It offers clues to the underlying beliefs and values of their respective positions. One seems to revel in hate, fear, and if not ignorance, surely misinformation. One shows greater hope, progress, and community values, while the third shows a more militant side of that.
Plethora of posts
Strident and often nasty posts on one page bashed state leaders about fraud claims or going too easy on immigrants, rejoicing that ICE really going after immigrants, chastising the ‘violent left’ for harassing ICE, reposting HodgeTwins calling voters morons who support an automatic weapons ban, the flood of undocumented criminals, thank you to ICE, attacks on mail-in voting, posting the ICE tip line, wanting more ICE raids, blaming illegals for high costs, reposting a Breitbart bash of a Somali politician. (16 posts about ICE-immigrants)
Posts on another page featured a coffee gathering for veterans, a school mass e-mail about immigrant rights, county food shelf info, community grants info, support for a congressional candidate, a quote by Dan Rather about a certain president who doesn’t really care about people, happy Hannukah greeting, story about Somalis being key to local economy, Chamber of Commerce accepting nominations for leadership awards, Grace Strobel-words do matter, community holiday celebration, CURE nature photos, county commissioner of the year award, Latino holiday celebration, Chamber job opening. (3 posts about ICE-immigrants).
The third organization Facebook page posts included: News story about local ICE arrests, children hiding in fear, ICE vehicles spotted in town, writing holiday cards for ICE detainees at the local jail, video supportive of local Somalis, caring for others over the holidays, Abrego freed from federal detention, stop ICE light vigil Dec. 19, Indiana rejects GOP map, Republicans at breaking point-Stuart Stevens, Oxford school shooter parents cited, GOP Jim Abeler comments in support of Somalis, Maya Angelou quote, GA Dem flips house seat, Twin City ICE raids, Mindful Christianity quote about Good Samaritan. (9 posts about ICE-immigrants).
Pop quiz! Before offering a little analysis of the content, see if you can guess which collection of posts can be attributed to which group: County Indivisible chapter, county Democratic Party, or county Republican Party. You already know the answer.
Tough nut to crack
Creating a list and categorizing content is easy compared with analyzing it in terms of the beliefs, values, knowledge levels and psyches of their respective followers. One major factor is the prevalence of digital media. Never before has any individual had the power to disseminate information worldwide just by hitting ‘Enter’. This enables people to remain anonymous while spewing lies and hate. Once that power is tasted, it becomes addictive.
With no constraints, such people are free to indulge in logical fallacies to argue their case. It’s this part that I find most difficult to manage. In the few cases where I’ve had some discussion with a cult devotee I try to remain rational and factual. The adversary runs rhetorical circles around me with logical fallacies such as hasty generalization, slippery slope, circular reasoning, ad hominem attacks, cherry-picking, or guilt by association.
All of these are good cover for people who really don’t know the facts or the truth, and receive most of their information from Fox, Breitbart, OAN, and other extreme right ‘news’ outlets. This could relate to another perspective on the human psyche, the Dunning-Kruger Effect.
Basically, people who know the least about something believe they know the most. Conversely, those who know the most about something are less likely to admit that because they know more about complexity and nuances. As I once said to a supervisor at a job during my college years, who asked me if I was learning anything. I replied that I was learning how much I don’t know.
Tide is turning
If the political tide is turning back towards representative democracy and some measure of normalcy, we must be ready to welcome back those who are ready and willing to redeem themselves. With rejoicing and not ridicule. If this sounds condescending, it’s no more than I have felt under the mocking and arrogant looks from people of the current populist cult – what a wimpy liberal! (In truth, I am neither.)
Seeing this swagger in the ranks of ICE, it is appalling that large, burly (or just fat) men decked out in camo, ammo, and masks succumb to violence against unarmed, often innocent, immigrants. They are intoxicated by power and vastly overpaid. It would be interesting to know how many were at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Maybe someday, given enough rehabilitation, some may realize what they have done.
