Popular political websites, discussions and talk shows seem to be created in order to unbalance viewers and readers. The absurd statements of opponents are instantly spread across the Web, as well as a video where one or another public figure clearly demonstrates his clumsiness and tongue-tiedness. But … it’s almost impossible to break away.
Behind all of this is our strange craving to read (and watch and listen to) about those we simply can’t stand. Many, before having opened the coveted page on the Internet, know that the content will infuriate them. But a rare conservative will not go straight to the lair of liberals, and a liberal, putting on headphones, will not plunge into the monologue of the most notorious conservative. Why?
To confirm your suspicions
One possible explanation is that we enjoy “moments of truth.” We want to make sure that the king is naked, and this explains why we choose the most odious figures among our political opponents and become practically their followers. And if a new day brings us fresh stupidity from them, we feel that we have not been deceived in our expectations. Our opponents are stupid enough, and therefore we are still smart enough.
There is another positive effect of such commitment. In fact, we are conducting a silent, silent political discussion, we are getting confirmation that we are right, but we are not participating in the discussion face to face. We do not see the heated faces of opponents, we do not shout out our arguments. We are not offended, and we do not offend anyone in return. In American political psychology, even the term “outrage media” has appeared to describe the sharply polemical, vicious and politically incorrect material that is the “magnet” of such media. In her book on the phenomenon, political psychologist Sarah Sobierai writes of her research: “For all the openness of our discourse, for all the talk that goes around the breadth of debate and discussion, too many Americans simply avoid talking about politics with those who hold different views” (1). You can scold the radio and it won’t scold you back.
Also, our “love for hated opponents” maintains a balance between the two political forces. “Neither the left can exist without the right, nor the right without the left. It can be said that each of them is waiting for the opponent’s next performance in order to give his answer to it and thus maintain the balance. In a sense, the demagoguery of, say, a conservative public figure and his talk show is not only for conservatives, it is for liberals. It not only convinces conservatives that they are right. It also convinces the liberals that they are right and even leads to an increase in the financial contributions of their party members.
Read more:
- What does politics smell like?
To be right
“Let’s go and hear what else this bastard has come up with …” Sometimes it becomes just an addiction. And it is impossible to convince a person to change the channel, listen to music, watch a movie. What are the reasons? Neuropsychologists offer their own answer. When scanning the brains of subjects who were shown photographs of their personal enemies (one of them quite unexpectedly demanded to add a photograph of a political figure to them), it was found that the same areas were active (putamen and insula) that are activated when a person experiences passion, affection, love (2).
Why do we have such a passionate feeling for odious politicians and their inexhaustible pearls? They make the world easier. There are they, and they are wrong, there are us, and we are certainly right. Their stupidity causes laughter, their impudence causes anger, their blunders inspire confidence. We experience all these emotions, and the stronger the emotions, the less is left for analysis, logic, reason … After all, we know that we are smarter.
1. S. Sobieraj «The Outrage Industry» (Kindle, 2014).
2. S. Zeki, J. Romaniya «Neural Correlates of Hate», PLoS One, 2008, 26 October.