The algorithm pointed me to an interview of Jordan Klepper, of The Daily Show fame, by Jen Psaki of MSNBC. While he has been going to MAGA rallies mostly to get laughs, he's also been thoughtful about what he's seen, and he was there on January 6. The thing that stood out in the interview was the bit about young white males being attracted to Trump, because they find some identity in associating with him. That struck me as weird, so I got to thinking about what has changed over the years. A decade and a half ago, I don't think his ascension would be possible. (And I'm disappointed it could happen at all.)
That decade and change ago, there was a developing sense that real equality was not only possible, but that we were headed in that direction. Perhaps naively, a lot of people, including myself, felt like having a Black president was a precursor to a more equitable society. Same-sex marriage eventually became legal, and a lot of folks realized that it wasn't enough to not be racist, we had to be anti-racist if things were ever going to change. Marginalized groups were getting louder, and quite happy to lean into their identity. It was exciting, and kind of a relief to see it happening.
At the same time, social media, which was mostly Facebook in those days, began its transformation into something that was less about networking and more about performance. I mean, that's why we have TikTok. Everyone is putting on a show. That was probably true before, at least to the extent that people presented themselves online in a way that was more polished or filtered than their real lives. With ad markets disrupted and monopolized, the concept of "influencer" was born, which mostly involves ephemeral performance in a long-tail of people who do whatever it is they do online. This is narcissistic behavior to various extents, which is kind of weird if you lived before it was typical. The point is that all of this lo-fi, ephemeral stuff appeals to an idea that you're awesome and should get your thing. After all, 16-year-old girls are getting their thing by doing synchronized dance moves online.
As a white hetero male, I've always been able to see first hand that advantage that I had over women and people of color. I knew this because many of my peers, especially those who were older, said and did a lot of sexist and racist things. As a Gen-X'er, I also had the, uh, "advantage" of largely being disregarded. I suppose I took up some identity in that, but I think it left me with a choice to find identity in helping others, or in finding some kind of fame and recognition. I've mostly leaned into the former, as my short tenure in radio, mostly pre-Internet-ish, made me realize that being even local famous isn't really that great. But again, not even autism, which I now understand has held me back in some ways, has not been a big enough impediment in my success. I think a lot of Millennials, who were more in that Internet transitional time, kind of caught up with us. This part is largely anecdotal, but stick with me for a moment.
Young white males today only know that performative online world. And that world includes people who are proud of their ethnic or racial heritage, proud of being queer, proud of being strong women, etc. The marginalized groups have had enough. Now, I'm in the aforementioned cohort that got to decide where we could find identity, and I believe many of us found it in helping others, raising people up. I have nothing to lose, and the proud identities of marginalized people does not come at my expense. But what about the people who only know a world where teens bank on making memes, and making everything about you is normal? If you're not a part of any of that, what is your identity?
To that end, I can see why young, white, hetero males feel threatened and without an identity that they can, uh, identify with. I am absolutely empathetic to this. You can't tell them about "white privilege" because they can't see it. They don't have the life experience to see it, and our education system fails to teach them about how human history is a tragedy of marginalized and persecuted people.
Unfortunately, because that privilege is real, and they're willing to associate their identity with a blatant racist and misogynist, they are moving us backward. The question then becomes, how do you reach them? They've grown up in a situation where it apparently is OK to be selfish, even at the expense of others (not to mention be a criminal without consequence). What's even more bizarre is the portion that show strong affiliation with Christianity, even though Christ stood for basically the antithesis of what MAGA folk believe. So now they also feel righteous through a warped view of religion.
I don't know what you do about this, but I can say that I at least understand how we got here. You can't explain ongoing cognitive dissonance to a person with autism though, or at least, not this person. I can't understand people who are so hateful because it's not rational. I also can't understand people who claim not to be hateful that associate with the hateful. And it's not for a lack of trying. I've tried to engage with random people like this, and they always get back to some talking point not grounded in reality, or one contrary to the values they claim to uphold.
It's not my problem to fix, but I want to see it get better. All I've got is allyship, volunteering and donating to civil rights organizations. It doesn't feel like enough.
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