There are many things to pay attention to as the United States doubles down on upholding right-wing values. One of those things is understanding exactly how the culture shift happened.
The kind of polarization we are witnessing right now doesn’t materialize out of thin air. It relies on a few things to thrive, starting with an overflow of information. In this country the control of this information is largely in the hands of a particular type of person: rich, white and male.
An example of the intentional polarization of U.S. citizens is how Meta CEO Mark Zuckerburg is currently handling the responsibility of owning one of the biggest information machines in the world as Donald Trump returns to the Oval Office.
Zuckerburg recently announced the removal of fact-checking on Facebook and the loosening of moderation policies when discussing sexuality or immigration. These policies came about after Trump was voted into office. An alarm bell should go off in the head of anyone reading those statements side by side. It’s worth digging into how they connect. There are a few things to consider.
First, it seems counter-productive to ban something meant to clarify the truth or curb hateful comments. Is there anything wrong with objectivity and equal rights? Well, if you are someone like Zuckerberg, then absolutely. It would hinder pushing a narrative or maintaining favor with powerful people.
Second, Zuckerburg recently poured $1 million into Trump’s inauguration fund who has threatened Zuckerburg with jail time in the past. When Trump was asked if Meta’s support could be due to his threats, he responded with a simple “Probably, yeah.”
However, it’s worth noting that Meta and other platforms like X have been inching to the right in the past few years. With the wolf cry of “free speech,” the people in charge of these platforms are actively making it easier to harm marginalized groups online, groups that are already being targeted by the GOP.
For example, Meta updated its hate speech policy to allow LGBTQ+ individuals to be referred to as “mentally ill.” And Elon Musk constantly engages with conspiracy theories and content that discriminates against immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community and other marginalized groups on his platform, portraying it as truth.
Their ability to do this with relative ease is largely due to declining media literacy rates which is the perfect recipe for pushing hateful rhetoric and propaganda. The passive consumption of content, which has become commonplace, makes it difficult for people to grasp the meaning or consequences of what they consume.
The importance of critically engaging with the media you consume is being lost to rapid-fire, short-form content with a desensitizing effect. People like Zuckerburg and Musk use this to their advantage by pushing whatever narrative will make them the most money, which currently happens to be values that align with the right.
Right now, our education system is crumbling. When educators push for learning curriculums designed to think critically or teach media literacy to parse through misinformation, they are met with pushback such as citing “child indoctrination.”
New Jersey is an example of this. Their attempt to implement a bill to increase literacy skills among K-12 students was met with public outrage from the right.
The refusal to create policies to curb propaganda and misinformation is due to how profitable it is to have the constant buzz of fresh controversy. It’s equal parts hatred and money.
It’s concerning to see the declining empathy in people as we enter a new presidential era but it’s important to remember that there’s no time limit on prioritizing fairness and equality for those in your community and beyond.
Through the promotion of proper education and the fostering of an environment intertwined with empathy we can pull ourselves out of the misinformation mess we are in right now.
