Don't Look Down

A few days ago, I reflected on the Algorithmic Feed and how it can both respond to and steer our interests and impulses. To illustrate that point, I wrote about the briefly ever-present viral content of an old man being charged by a bison and thrown into the air.

Now, I doubt many people would list “watch an old man almost die by drive-by bison” as part of their interests, and so it must somehow fall into our impulses. Rather than an impulse toward violence, which might play some role, my sense is it feeds our impulse to look down on others, and to judge their actions in such a way that elevates ourselves — the viewers — all from the comfort of our chair or couch or bed or wherever. Well, I certainly wouldn’t have stood so close to a roaming buffalo! I wouldn’t have been thrown into sky cartwheels! Is this guy stupid? Doesn’t he know better? My God, people are dumb!

The area where I’ve most observed this impulse — the impulse to look down on others — is among liberal-leaning people (since that’s whose company I typically share) who look down on MAGA supporters and Trump voters, viewing them as stupid, gullible, and conned — non-playable characters who move through the world like zombies, idiots, who can’t think for themselves. I certainly share this impulse, but I know it needs to be battled. And so, I battle it. I battle it within myself, and I battle it in the company of others.

This impulse, as it manifests in liberal elites, seems to be the result of an intellectual superiority complex that jumped the shark over a decade ago, but still maintains a grip on the New York Times-reading Democratic establishment.

Perhaps I should revise my use of “liberal” here. “Technocrat” is probably more accurate.

Specifically, I’m mostly talking about the political consulting class and their loyal followers who believe American elections operate as a kind of science, an abstraction that hovers above reality, that can only be understood by a hyper-educated elite. Voters are viewed as pawns, pieces in a game, that can be manipulated or moderated toward in order to ensure a specific outcome.

This view strips individuals of their dignity and autonomy while worshipping polls as prophecy, a kind of statistical Oracle of Delphi.

Armed with their prophecy into the future, the political class — particularly on the left — moves to moderate their positions in such a way that they can win a majority (or, 50.01% of the vote) instead of, well, believing in anything at all. Their ideology focuses on winning through science and statistics, rather than authenticity and good ideas.

The problem? This approach hasn’t worked since at least 2012, though it likely hasn’t worked since the 1990s in any meaningful way.

Still, though, this approach holds a vice-like grip on the Democratic Party, a political organization constructed to maintain the status quo and ensure Party conformity.

This makes sense: it would be strange if the Democratic Party was constructed in a way that didn’t seek to sustain its own operations, since it is one of the two major political parties in the United States and so needs to keep existing into the future (or so it thinks). But its outdated structure is almost wholly captured by the same forces that propelled Donald Trump into the presidency, which — by the way — are many of the same forces that propelled Barack Obama into the presidency (citation: Obama appointing a banker Treasury Secretary after the 2008 financial crisis).

The solution to this problem ultimately remains in the hands of the voters; voters in the Democratic Party who can choose to stop supporting corporate-backed candidates, along with candidates who are compromised through their commitment to a corrupt party structure that demands fealty to its bought-and-paid-for special interests and top-down hierarchical structure.

Today, the technocratic neoliberal elites don’t hide their disdain for the working class. They have entire podcasts and publications set up to share their worldview, to proliferate their posturing as anointed gatekeepers of civility and civil society. Democratic technocrats openly embrace conservatives who share their capitalistic, hierarchical worldview — Kamala Harris campaigned with Liz Cheney, and Pod Save America regularly amplifies The Bulwark, etc. Again: this makes sense to me. I don’t even think it’s a bad thing. They are self-interested actors looking to protect their crumbling status as arbiters of American politics, the expert trainers of the horses that race every two-to-four years.

The problem? The fascists don’t play by these rules. They could give two fucks what the polls say. Donald Trump exists on the forefront of reality creation, outside of culture itself, which sits above politics. The Democrats, for their part, remain downstream from this shit-slinging madman, happily chomping away at the dingleberries he throws their way, all while looking down, entirely unaware of what they’re eating.

Alright, well, I think I got that out of my system.

The conclusion: think for yourself and have respect for the dignity of every person. Don't look down.