Moral Dissolution through Moral Indignation

The cycle of violence in American politics 

Let me take you on a journey – a journey that most people are already on.  In this post we will descend into the depths of American political discourse.  Without realizing it, most people are somewhere on this road, even the disinterested who’s political engagement is purely incidental through their Facebook newsfeed.  We all have feelings about what is right and what is wrong with this country.  Unfortunately, those feelings are only the beginning of this journey, which may not end well.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Have you ever been had a conversation with someone who seemed like a compassionate and intelligent person one minute and a crazy political extremist the next? Perhaps he favors taking health care away from people for the sake of smaller government, or redistributing wealth from hardworking Americans so that poor people are given more material resources, or loosening climate regulations to boost fossil fuel production – Earth be damned, or making abortion services available to mothers in the 3^rd trimester. How could a person who seems so nice and reasonable think that way?

It’s possible after reading that list that you had an immediate emotional reaction to the statements – I’ll admit I could feel emotional content stirring in me as I typed it.  Perhaps, if you’ve spent enough time thinking about the topics, a list of talking points spewed into your consciousness like a geyser exploding from its pressurized reservoir.  The reason these topics are so emotionally volatile is because at their core, they are moral issues.  These are fundamentally questions about right and wrong, about how humans should act toward each other and toward the world they inhabit. 

Your emotional and moral reactions to the topics are the reasons why your hypothetical conversation partner looks ghastly to you as they fall on the wrong side of the moral divide (and the wrong side of history, as we’re quick to point out).  It seems our culture (and the internet) believes that people who hold morally wrong beliefs are by extension immoral people who must be corrected, coerced, or contained – a process that daily plays on repeat in our news cycle (source: CNN.com).  This moral condemnation cycle drives the tribalism into which our country has descended. The two sides can’t talk because the other side is so abhorrent.  The natural outcome of this process is emotional and physical violence as interpersonal relations break down.  2016 was filled with such examples, from violence at political rallies, to protests dissolving into riots, to ambush-style cop killings, to the spike in hate crimes after the election. 

Another casualty of this moral condemnation cycle is truth.  Much of what we know as “truth” is based on trusting authorities that report events to us.  Moral revulsion and tribalism erode trust in those outside the group. As trust shrivels, unbelief blossoms.  You won’t believe the New York Times to tell you about shadowy Russian hackers - a topic you have no empirical access to - if you believe there is moral rot in the hearts of the writers.  Although skepticism can be a virtue when coupled with impartial intellectual analysis, moral tribalism tends to drive motivated reasoning where our “truth barometer” is not what accords with the fundamental principals of logic and reason, but rather what resonates with our pre-existing beliefs about the world.  As a result, fake news goes viral and truth recedes into relativistic obscurity. 

Though interpersonal violence and motivated reasoning are natural outcomes of moral tribalism, we have not yet spiraled to the bottom of this destructive cycle.  The current situation in the country, two sides that find the other morally abhorrent, is an inherently unstable arrangement.  Moral revulsion repels and with each instance of violence or faulty reasoning, the two sides are pushed further apart. As the distance grows, our ability to understand the other side dissolves and productive conversations fizzle.  Unfortunately, since we share a country together, each side still needs to influence the other to obtain their own political goals; however, since the ability to influence through reason and compromise has collapsed, the only available route is through force.  So each side finds forceful displays of power to be the most expedient political activity.  We can see this process play out, for example, through the Left’s use of identity politics or the Right’s obstructionist behavior in congress over the last 8 years. 

While these types of power plays have existed in American politics since the birth of the nation, as the country’s shared values erode, the range of acceptable political behavior widens to include previously unthinkable acts.  Donald Trump not only normalized but also benefited from violating political norms, such as insulting the spouses of his political opponents, lying about releasing his taxes, and breezily threatening war on Twitter.  Trump is neither special nor clever; he is merely filling the space opened by our country’s moral dissolution. 

He is also not the worst that could come. 

If Trump continues to wield his newfound political power like a bludgeon, the rift will widen and moral norms will continue to erode.  As each side suffers violence, frustration will turn into hatred.  This hatred will be disguised as moral indignation, a self-righteous deception that justifies the violence it produces.   Moral indignation will act as an engine for this cycle of violence as we roll into the abyss of hyperpolarized tribalism.  Downward we will spiral until the situation is right for the next Trump-like figure to appear, the Trump of nightmares, the Trump empowered by an electorate who is ready to send the opposition to Hell. 

This devil-Trump may not arrive in the near future.  Such an evil may yet be decades in the making, but if our country continues on its current course, we will run directly into his seductive embrace.  One may think I’m being dramatic, prophesying doom based on fantastic guesswork.  To this I would reply that 2016 happened…and they said, “it can’t happen here”.  

______________________________________________________________________________________________

It is highly likely that you do not identify with the moral tribalism identified here.  You probably have some political thoughts and you likely identified with a candidate in the election, or were just frustrated by all the candidates.  But I would invite you to remember the feeling of powerlessness you felt from this election.  You may have felt powerless when Trump, who you thought had no chance in the world of winning, dominated the Electoral College vote.  Or you may have felt powerless when neither candidate even approached representing your unique views, and the political discussion moved on without so much as noticing you were there.  This is the danger of a binary choice in a world of infinite possibilities: the choices do not reflect the choosers, and yet the choosers choose nonetheless.  This same binary choice of Left and Right continues today, and the locus of power is migrating towards the extreme ends of the spectrum.    Although you may not be far along with the process I just described, it is undeniable there are many people (who you probably do not interact with and who are not in your social media networks) who are quite far along this path.  If you do not counteract the process now, you’ll be powerless to do it later.  You’ll be trapped in a more extreme version of the same false dichotomy in which you were just crushed.