Who profits from all this bickering?
I’ve often sat exasperated, contemplating how hopeless our current state of communication is, because of how little discussion is really going on at any given time, even among friends. And, if communication is at such a low state of quality, surely this bodes ominously for our democracy; our country; our home.
I lamented to my brother about this, and he advised me to unplug for a bit. Unplugging is my default reaction when things get tough like this (and I suspect he knows it), so I resist it actively. It helps to have someone who knows me and cares about me to give me permission.
And so, here I am, writing about it. LLOL.
Shortly after this exchange with my brother, I got a clip in my feed (again, NOT unplugging!) from a man named Chase Hughes. a “prominent expert in human behavior, influence, and interrogation, known for developing advanced training programs and authoring bestselling books on behavior profiling.” He comes at communication from a very different perspective than I do, but what he said made me sit up and take notice.
Mr. Huges said, “The real enemy isn’t Democrats or Republicans—it’s entrenched power (billionaires, political lifers, media conglomerates)…. Division is deliberately engineered because united citizens threaten their control.” And then he went on to urge, “I will not let propaganda tell me who to hate. I will never cheer for blood. I will choose sanity, unity, and humanity over division.”
I’ve always believed it wasn’t the “other guy” (you choose) that is the enemy. But Hughes’ insight seemed to crystallize it for me. Who profits from all this bickering? People in power. People who make money and gain influence by leveraging the argument.
So who profits/benefits from real conversation? Who benefits from conversation in which people are actually learning from each other, and understanding each other?
Well, only those people, I suppose.