Self-silencing and performative bullshit: The new communication norm

Good article in Axios, perhaps inappropriately titled “What Americans Really Think,” about the idea of self-silencing. That’s defined as “people saying what they think others want to hear rather than what they truly feel.” Indeed. You could also call it “performative discourse,” i.e. the “yard sign makes me a good person” argument. In sum, a lot of people claim to care about certain things, but in the reality of their day-to-day lives, they don’t actually care that much about those things. This GASP AHA WHAT moment scaled for people when Trump won. A lot of people thought, “Oh God, my neighbor kept saying what an asshole he was… but … I think my neighbor … VOTED for him?” Indeed, your neighbor probably did. You know why? Taxes. Brashness. SCOTUS. Any number of reasons. So yea, he said “This guy’s a fucking asshole,” and he still flipped the lever for him. There’s a big disconnect. How big? Glad you asked. From that article:

“When we’re misreading what we all think, it actually causes false polarization,” said Todd Rose, co-founder and president of Populace, the Massachusetts-based firm that undertook the study. “It actually destroys social trust. And it tends to historically make social progress all but impossible.”

Yep. Feels that way right about now, don’t it?