This article explores the factors driving the rise of anger, division, and extremism in democratic politics, focusing on the changing nature of societal norms and their impact on acceptable discourse. Drawing on the example of Donald Trump's Maga movement, the author argues that the erosion of traditional norms has emboldened previously suppressed viewpoints, leading to a more polarized and contentious political landscape.
The messengers in Ireland used to be the main newspapers, political parties, RTÉ, the Church and the education system. That meant that Ireland had editors who – rightly or wrongly – editorialised. Today everyone is an editor The success of Donald Trump's Maga movement shows what can happen when societal norms shift. Photograph: Doug Mills/The New York Times Let’s talk about the message, who gets to tell the story, who constructs the narrative and who frames the debate.
The reason I’m ending the year with this column on who tells the story is, maybe like you, I’m trying to figure out what is happening to democratic politics. Why the anger, the spite, the bitterness, the division? Ireland has been reasonably peaceful, but as global events take time to lap up to our shores, it’s only a matter of time before the rancour and divisiveness seen elsewhere materialise here. For a long time I was persuaded by the link between the economy and political choices. The so-called “feelgood-factor” makes sense. If people are feeling good about their life they are less likely to lurch to extremes. However, drilling down into the data on how people are voting around the world, it is clear that the reasonably well-to-do are voting regularly for extreme parties. For example, the Maga movement was originally thought to be anchored in the “left-behinds”, but not any more. It is a broad coalition of rich, poor and those in the middle – all angry and gunning for somebody, something or someplace to attack, denigrate and blame. What appears to have changed is something called societal norms, those things that are regarded as acceptable to say in public. Once societal norms shift, things that were thought by some to be acceptable when hushed in private but unacceptable in public – such as racism, xenophobia or anti-Semitism - become reasonably widespread. In the past, although these notions were under the surface, they were suppressed. Today they are prevalen
Societal Norms Extremism Democracy Political Polarization Discourse
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