Politics - Post-Truth and Narrative
Lies, the Right, and what to do next...
Well…remember the 2015 General Election when Channel 4 raised concerns about Tory spending? Police didn’t charge. How innocent that all seems now.
Barack Obama is in. But he tells the truth, and has Congress blocking him on most things. How dare he pass the Affordable Care Act?
The world is spinning. Internationalism is still kind of working. Kind of. Regional wars and atrocities are going on. There is the impact of the 2007/8 financial crash and Credit Crunch. Governments are struggling. Inequality is rife.
Forgive my focus on the Anglo-Saxon World. I live there.
In 2014, Russia had annexed and occupied large swathes of Ukrainian Territory. Obama, with Iraq and Afghanistan in mind, did little to nothing. NATO is largely symbolic. Putin is flexing his muscles. Testing the water. China is being China. The US still symbolically wants a ‘free world’ of markets and democracy, but on its terms, with friendly governments.
In 2016, Brexit and Trump happened. Why? Anti-politics. Symbolic performativity. Giving Clintons and Camerons bloody noses. To stop immigration. Due to the Cost of Living. These two events divided two nations that were already divided. In Europe, with largely Proportional Representation as a voting system, the far right flexes its muscles, but cannot dominate. The lessons of Brexit strengthen the rest of the EU against such a calamitous act of self-destruction elsewhere. Even populists, illiberal democracies, and wannabe and effective autocrats need to keep people happy.
In 2017, there was ethnic cleansing in Myanmar of the Rohingya minority. There was a lot of hate speech and misinformation spread on Facebook, which was later sued. The price of business, eh?
In 2022, Putin, noting the Afghanistan withdrawal and NATO weakness, launched a full invasion of Ukraine. Many on the far right were okay with this. Many on the far left apologised for it. All NATO’s fault. The right liked Putin because of his authoritarian culture wars. The left liked him because he was anti-NATO and still thought that deep down, he was a proper socialist.
By this time, of course, algorithms and foreign governments were interfering in elections and the affairs of other nations. Post-truth became hypernormalised. Far-right figures were using disinformation, misinformation, and the development of strong leader cultism to enforce their agendas. The biggest purveyor of Far-Right bullshit in the UK is Nigel Farage, a Marmite figure who some love. He is performative, communicates well, and is highly dangerous. In the US, there is a culture war that is redefining the ‘home of democracy’ and the ‘leader of the free world’ as an illiberal democracy run by an oligarchy loyal to the leader. All that matters is Trump. MAGA will destroy, take over, dox, insurrect, shoot, kill, and dominate with the fervour of Red Guards during Mao’s Cultural Revolution. For the moment, the creaking levees hold. Social Media and highly selected media eco-systems reinforce prejudice, fear of the Other, the cult of the leader, the opposition as enemy worthy of death or implied death. The rest of the world watches. The USA is led by a crazy Roman Emperor. China and Russia look to extend power, in the first instance, militarily and economically, and in the latter’s case, territorially. Rules mean nothing. The Rule of Law means nothing.
Palestinians are the Other. Muslim, non-white, poor, and all terrorists. This is spread and implied across the ‘free world, ’ and the media is often reluctant to call genocide out. Other wars and atrocities elsewhere, in sovereign countries, seem irrelevant. That is what they do in poor countries. The narrative is powerful. The agendas are complex. Israel is one of us.
While inequality is rife, people lose faith in democracy. Work does not pay like it did. More progressive governments are too scared of the establishment and get destroyed by their proxies in the media. Wealth Taxes are talked about, but pussyfooted around.
When all else fails, and it often does, the right will blame immigrants. Many lap this up. It is simple and effective. Shit floods the zone, shit upon shit upon shit. Net Zero is unaffordable. Climate Change is not happening or an Act of God. Economic Development no longer matters on the Right. Only cultural domination. Immigrants. Walls. Oligarchy. Loyalty. Bullshit.
We have been here before.
But without the Social Media. After the Southport Murders last year, the evils of social media were revealed to all. Elon Musk openly spoke of the overthrow of the UK government online. Farage and co spread dis and misinformation. Immigrants. Everything is caused by immigrants.
The Right are flooding the zone.
All the right does these days is punch down. It is all they have.
The left argues and divides.
We need new leaders committed to economic development and the development of the people in the street. New visions. Use the tactics that work. It will mean getting dirty. It will mean getting together and compromising among ourselves.
But if we do nothing, we will soon be up to our necks in the shit that has flooded the zone.