An article I read recently in the Atlantic compared today’s United States to Babel.
The Genesis story of the Tower of Babel is a tale about a mythical time when all people on Earth spoke the same language. They decided to build a great tower reaching up to the heavens. God, seeing their project as evidence of pride, confused their languages so they could no longer understand each other. That lack of ability to communicate caused them to abandon the unfinished tower and disperse across the Earth.
“Babel” means “confusion” in Hebrew, and references to the “Tower of Babel” are often used as a shorthand for our very human miscommunications and misunderstandings.
Trump did not destroy the tower, but he exploited its fall.
He was the first politician to master the new dynamics of the post-Babel era, in which outrage is the key to virality, stage performance crushes competence, Twitter can overpower all the newspapers in the country, and stories cannot be shared (or at least trusted) across more than a few adjacent fragments—so truth cannot achieve widespread adherence.
So much of our current dysfunction as a society is a result of the current, fragmented state of an information environment that encourages people to indulge confirmation bias and reject inconvenient realities–an environment in which propaganda and conspiracy theories thrive. (Not that what we call “legacy media” is exactly covering itself with glory…) The result is that people live in alternate realities and are increasingly unable to communicate.
That mutual incomprehension doesn’t just infect our political life.
It’s been clear for quite a while now that red America and blue America are becoming like two different countries claiming the same territory, with two different versions of the Constitution, economics, and American history. But Babel is not a story about tribalism; it’s a story about the fragmentation of everything. It’s about the shattering of all that had seemed solid, the scattering of people who had been a community. It’s a metaphor for what is happening not only between red and blue, but within the left and within the right, as well as within universities, companies, professional associations, museums, and even families.
Babel is a metaphor for what some forms of social media have done to nearly all of the groups and institutions most important to the country’s future—and to us as a people.
The article notes that initially–in the 1990s–the Internet, with its chat rooms, message boards, and then its first wave social-media platforms (launched in 2003) were hailed as boons to democracy.
Myspace, Friendster, and Facebook made it easy to connect with friends and strangers to talk about common interests, for free, and at a scale never before imaginable. By 2008, Facebook had emerged as the dominant platform, with more than 100 million monthly users, on its way to roughly 3 billion today. In the first decade of the new century, social media was widely believed to be a boon to democracy. What dictator could impose his will on an interconnected citizenry? What regime could build a wall to keep out the internet?
What holds large and diverse secular democracies such as the United States together? Research has identified three major forces that collectively bind together successful democracies: “social capital (extensive social networks with high levels of trust), strong institutions, and shared stories.”
Social media has weakened all three.
The article explains how social media has changed over time—and especially since 2009–with the introduction of algorithms that encourage dishonesty and what the author calls “mob dynamics.” The lengthy article is well worth reading in its entirety, but the following observation is at the crux of the (very persuasive) analysis:
The newly tweaked platforms were almost perfectly designed to bring out our most moralistic and least reflective selves. The volume of outrage was shocking.
It was just this kind of twitchy and explosive spread of anger that James Madison had tried to protect us from as he was drafting the U.S. Constitution. The Framers of the Constitution were excellent social psychologists. They knew that democracy had an Achilles’ heel because it depended on the collective judgment of the people, and democratic communities are subject to “the turbulency and weakness of unruly passions.” The key to designing a sustainable republic, therefore, was to build in mechanisms to slow things down, cool passions, require compromise, and give leaders some insulation from the mania of the moment while still holding them accountable to the people periodically, on Election Day.
Thanks to social media–our very own “tower”–we’re in a fragmented world of hurt, and I don’t see us emerging any time soon.
The “.com” era of the 1990s was beneficial originally, not only as a form of social media, but business and later medical contacts. The E-mails could be sent at any time 24/7 and read at the convenience of the friend or business receiving them. Contacting business and medical sources by E-mail was extremely beneficial to the hearing impaired and deaf and was often the only contact available to us and was convenient to those whose work hours didn’t provide time for phone calls during open hours of businesses and medical services. It is now problematic because the vast majority of businesses and medical providers have ceased using or accepting E-mail contacts which is a violation of the Reasonable Accommodation Section of the ADA law. Many of them provided language choices till they ended the “.com” contact; it is now assumed that the world has cell phones and conducts all business and social contacts via this small, hand-held electronic device which can be hacked by clever people and foreign countries…including governments, corporations and medical providers.
“So much of our current dysfunction as a society is a result of the current, fragmented state of an information environment that encourages people to indulge confirmation bias and reject inconvenient realities–an environment in which propaganda and conspiracy theories thrive.”
Was this “information environment” created to benefit people or was its aim the mass confusion we are now faced with and has provided an endless outlet for the lies and fiction protected under the freedom of speech and freedom of the press as provided by the Constitution? The results of this 2024 election and the protection of those repealing our civil and human rights makes me question this.
We can all choose not to participate. Or to participate at a reduced rate. I find decreasing returns on FB. Too many AI generated “stories”. Not enough of my friends.
Joann Green. I expect the information environment was created with the intent to benefit people, but every tool we invent for good may also be used as a weapon. This has always been true. The rock that was used to crack nuts was then used to crack heads. Every improvement in the dissemination of information also aids the dissemination of propaganda. The struggle between good and evil goes on.
Sharon,
Thanks for providing another example of the basic primitive nature of human survival and tribalism. We try to be communal organisms as long as it benefits the tribe, but on a large scale, not so much.
It was Steve Bannon who first figured out how to manipulate data to the advantage of t*ump/MAGA, as described in the book “Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America” by Christopher Wylie, in case you want to read about how it began. It appears that he has been successful in his efforts.
The forces in.opposition to our values began organizing in the 1960s and 1970’s. They used wealth and ideologies focusing on individualism- fears central to their patriarchal visions- racism, sexism and more- the Democratic Party and liberals had their heads in the sand. Corporate interests power the democrats also. We who have privilege have the choice now to keep in our denial and
Saying it is too late. Alternately we can build meaningfully coalitions opposing toxic Christianity and the power of wealth- knowing it will be challenging and definitely include short term failures. Do we ultimately care enough about others including those “illegals” (sic) and people like my elder stepchild- Black, gender non-binary with severe fibromyalgia. Will more, many more of white men older and younger begin doing the work such as supporting Reproductive Justice and much more????
Sharon; it is sad that there will always be someone with some way to destroy or use for evil the most beneficial creations to provide progress for everyone. Like protective measures for our homes which criminals always find their way around; and like Trump has found a way to run our government before President Biden’s term has ended and he has been inaugurated.
Something is going on in the health care system prior to whatever plans Trump has for all of us. My IU Health Plan and my daughter-in-law’s Catholic Archdiocese health plan are both switching to Elevance Health which is parent to Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield on January 1st. Who will this change help in the long run? Why this sudden change at this particular time?
I think it’s fair to say that without the internet, we wouldn’t have Trump. The use of the internet by unethical people and institutions has corrupted and destroyed our traditional understanding of journalism, information, and truth.
I say this as someone who worked (in development, coding and management) in a software company specialising in an online course delivery platform during the time of the dot-com tech bubble and after. Initially, we were a tiny group of students led by a professor and our aims were both capitalistic and altruistic. Many of our initial lofty ambitions regarding the internet were dashed to pieces against rocks of greed and grift. It still makes me very sad to contemplate.
Speaking of the coming storm …. I saw that the Trump team is making a list of countries to which we will send our illegal immigrants – if their home countries don’t accept them. Imagine how expensive that’s going to be for the American taxpayer: Money for the human roundup cowboys + money to support those millions of hungry mouths (assuming there is any humanitarianism still residing in Trump world) + money to fly/rail/bus/ship this unwanted human cargo to all corners of the world. Simple question: Who is going to manage that massive undertaking? Steve Bannon? Stephen Miller. Good luck with that.
The next item on the agenda from the soon-to-be liar in chief is the weaponizing of DOJ to “go after” Benny Thompson and Liz Cheney, et. al. Quoth of orange mouth of lies: “They should all be in jail.”
No, he’s not going to touch Social Security, just make it more efficient. How? No answer. How about lifting the contribution cap on everyone receiving a paycheck? Oh. Right. That means corporate/banking America would have to contribute too. Never mind.
Then there’s exiting NATO to let the rest of the world find a way to avoid WW III. After all, why are we paying to defend our allies? It’s our money, after all.
I apologize for the rant, but these are the questions and events that will occupy MSM and social networks for the foreseeable future. Having fun yet?
I’m watching X as it loses members. We’ll soon have a better understanding of how much toxicity we the people will accept, before we say “enough!”
It’s wild witnessing the political class celebrate the end of secularism in Syria, whilst that very same political class installs an Al-Qaeda linked regime in said country.
Only in America 2024..
The US is offering a 10 million dollar reward for information leading to the arrest of Muhammad al-Jawlani while simultaneously pledging millions of dollars to support Muhammad al-Jawlani.
Truth is stranger than fiction.
How right you are, Ian!
I always question articles written by our entertainment industry on the destructive capacities of social media. It’s quite ironic and hilarious for anyone who watches Blue and Red America go at it. Blue folks think Red folks watch propaganda, and vice versa. Neither one realizes they are being fed propaganda du jour.
Don’t forget Trump was a product of the entertainment industry. His show was hosted by NBC, which is the parent of MSNBC, which Comcast owns after they bought the remaining shares of GE. Americans got steady doses of Trump because it was good for NBC. All the other major channels joined in the fight for attention (clicks).
God = Oligarchy in the Babel story.
Leaders have been using divide-and-conquer strategies for eons. The oligarchs destroyed the unions for a reason. Propaganda was brought to the USA by Sigmund Freud’s nephew, Edward Bernays. He made a fortune for the oligarchy and was used in the 50s to set up the intelligence community. Who do you think the IC benefits in our country? LOL
One other note on the subject: Wikipedia, a free, open-source encyclopedia, destroyed the billions Microsoft had pledged for Encarta, their version of an encyclopedia.
Yesterday, I opened TikTok, and the first video I saw was on C-SPAN. It was Josh Hawley interviewing the CEOs of Mastercard and Visa, which own 80% of the credit card market. They were crying because they didn’t want any competition in their industry while boasting about their 50% profit margins. It was a great show, but like everything else, Washington won’t do a thing about it. Have you looked at CC rates lately?
And for Michael, I would live in Norway or any other Scandinavian country. Democratic socialists have the right equation, and that’s why they lead the world in Happiness, Education, etc.
And the real shit-show has not even started yet!
The root of the tower…
As Eduardo Porter wrote in the New York Times: “To steer voters away from a “blow it all up” approach will require figuring out how to invite them into a country that feels alien to so many — a society that is continually changing to embrace new peoples, cultures and technologies, products, environmental constraints, languages, religions, forms of expression, gender identities, sexual affinities, and so on. Voters’ disgust might appear as though it is aimed at venal leaders out of touch with the salt of the earth. But it amounts to a rejection of what America is becoming.”
Online encrypted code is a visual metaphor for the tower of Bable story. The uncertainty of the meaning can create confusion, mistrust and fear. Controlling the narrative is essential in Authoritarian regimes and the tactics used tend toward suppression, intimidation and silencing. The trump administration will undoubtedly obfuscate facts/ details of their policies and plans and shut out the free press as much as possible. The babel from trump and Magas needs to be taken seriously and ways to decipher and react accordingly are vital to endure.