In an insightful, albeit disturbing, piece for New Republic appropriately titled Hate Is on the Ballot, Rachel Bitecofer details just how deeply we’ve allowed ourselves to becomes divided politically. Citing statistics that likely surprise nobody, she writes:
In 2014, pollsters with the Pew Research Center found that 27 percent of Democrats and 36 percent of Republicans believed their partisan counterparts were a “threat to the well-being of the country.”
Also unsurprising, she continues:
Seventy-one percent of Republicans and 55 percent of Democrats now regard the opposition party as a force that stokes baleful national decline.
I must admit, this next finding shook me:
In a study of what they call “lethal mass partisanship,” political scientists Nathan P. Kalmoe and Lilliana Mason found that 15 percent of Republicans and 20 percent of Democrats agree that the country would be better off if a large number of opposing partisans in the public today “just died.”
“Lethal mass partisanship” was not just new terminology to me. The very idea that humans could be so deluded as to devalue the lives of their fellow humans to this level was not something I was prepared to accept. The unfortunate reality is that lethal mass partisanship is an important aspect of our evolutionary biology. In The righteous mind: why good people are divided by politics and religion, Jonathan Haidt identifies how evolution has rewarded our brains' toxic tribalism:
Our righteous minds made it possible for human beings to produce large cooperative groups, tribes, and nations without the glue of kinship. But at the same time, our righteous minds guarantee that our cooperative groups will always be cursed by moralistic strife.
The majority of politicians and the media are well-educated, well-funded, and wed to a system that rewards tapping into this lethal mass partisanship. They know exactly what they are doing by fostering and nurturing divison - and how they profit from viewers, listeners, clicks, ad revenues and votes. As Bitecofer astutely recognizes:
Under the spell of negative partisanship, the campaign arms of both parties, their candidates, and their supporting groups all work in concert to reinforce and validate this set of emotional reactions.
In other words, we are both biologically and culturally driven towards lethal mass partisanship.
As the problems of our division grow, our commitment to finding solutions must doubly strengthen. What is required is a critical mass of people arriving at the realization that this is not the society we want for ourselves or our children. That sounds great, in theory. But how can this be accomplished? Is there a road map to this kind of realization? There may be: let us start with Bobbie Harro’s Cycle of Liberation.
Bobbie Harro is a former professor of Human Services at Springfield College in Massachussetts. If you, like I, believe that civics should be given higher priority in K12 curricula, then you may agree that her Cycle of Liberation should be required reading for every high school social studies student. Even a cursory glance at her diagram reveals a possible template for a life of significance.
The Cycle of Liberation begins with Waking Up, which “is marked by an intrapersonal change: a change in the core of someone about what s/he believes about her/himself.” Harro observes that this can be a result of either some kind of epiphanous event or a gradual process of realization. The next phase, Getting Ready, “is composed of dismantling our wrong or diminishing beliefs (stereotypes, ignorance or misinformation), our discriminatory or privileged attitudes (superiority or inferiority), and behaviors that limit ourselves or others (collusion, oppressive language, or resignation).”
The next two phases of the Cycle are where we begin the real and vital work of bridging difference. Reaching Out involves seeking “experiences outside ourselves in order to check our reality and expose ourselves to a wider range of difference than we had before.” Building Community “consists of two steps: dialoguing with people like us for support... and dialoguing with people who are different from us for gaining understanding and building coalitions.”
The next three phases are where the rubber meets the road. After Coalescing, or moving “into action,” we can Create Change by “creating a new culture that reflects our coalition’s collective identity.” Then we we collectively build systems to Maintain that culture.
According to Harro, the Core of the Cycle is the "development of competence" to make meaningful change, the "belief that we can succeed," and the "commitment" to see it through. More than anything, it is the "practice of love:" love of self, balance, joy, and a strong spiritual base. It is this Core that gives us the strength, resolve, values, and principles to live into the Cycle of Liberation consistently and effectively despite the inevitable challenges and resistance.
Is it liberating or terrifying to learn that we are neurologically and socially conditioned to toxic tribalism? I suppose a case can be made for either view, but liberation is far more productive and empowering. After all, once we have unmasked the biological chains that bind us, can we not recognize that a future of compassion, peace, and awareness of our interdependence is the future we all want?
Haidt, J. (2012). The righteous mind: why good people are divided by politics and religion. New York: Pantheon Books.
Harro, B. (2000). The Cycle of Liberation. In Working for Social Justice: Visions and Strategies for Change (pp. 463–469). New York and London: Routledge.
In 2014, pollsters with the Pew Research Center found that 27 percent of Democrats and 36 percent of Republicans believed their partisan counterparts were a “threat to the well-being of the country.”
Also unsurprising, she continues:
Seventy-one percent of Republicans and 55 percent of Democrats now regard the opposition party as a force that stokes baleful national decline.
I must admit, this next finding shook me:
In a study of what they call “lethal mass partisanship,” political scientists Nathan P. Kalmoe and Lilliana Mason found that 15 percent of Republicans and 20 percent of Democrats agree that the country would be better off if a large number of opposing partisans in the public today “just died.”
“Lethal mass partisanship” was not just new terminology to me. The very idea that humans could be so deluded as to devalue the lives of their fellow humans to this level was not something I was prepared to accept. The unfortunate reality is that lethal mass partisanship is an important aspect of our evolutionary biology. In The righteous mind: why good people are divided by politics and religion, Jonathan Haidt identifies how evolution has rewarded our brains' toxic tribalism:
Our righteous minds made it possible for human beings to produce large cooperative groups, tribes, and nations without the glue of kinship. But at the same time, our righteous minds guarantee that our cooperative groups will always be cursed by moralistic strife.
The majority of politicians and the media are well-educated, well-funded, and wed to a system that rewards tapping into this lethal mass partisanship. They know exactly what they are doing by fostering and nurturing divison - and how they profit from viewers, listeners, clicks, ad revenues and votes. As Bitecofer astutely recognizes:
Under the spell of negative partisanship, the campaign arms of both parties, their candidates, and their supporting groups all work in concert to reinforce and validate this set of emotional reactions.
In other words, we are both biologically and culturally driven towards lethal mass partisanship.
As the problems of our division grow, our commitment to finding solutions must doubly strengthen. What is required is a critical mass of people arriving at the realization that this is not the society we want for ourselves or our children. That sounds great, in theory. But how can this be accomplished? Is there a road map to this kind of realization? There may be: let us start with Bobbie Harro’s Cycle of Liberation.
Bobbie Harro is a former professor of Human Services at Springfield College in Massachussetts. If you, like I, believe that civics should be given higher priority in K12 curricula, then you may agree that her Cycle of Liberation should be required reading for every high school social studies student. Even a cursory glance at her diagram reveals a possible template for a life of significance.
The next two phases of the Cycle are where we begin the real and vital work of bridging difference. Reaching Out involves seeking “experiences outside ourselves in order to check our reality and expose ourselves to a wider range of difference than we had before.” Building Community “consists of two steps: dialoguing with people like us for support... and dialoguing with people who are different from us for gaining understanding and building coalitions.”
The next three phases are where the rubber meets the road. After Coalescing, or moving “into action,” we can Create Change by “creating a new culture that reflects our coalition’s collective identity.” Then we we collectively build systems to Maintain that culture.
According to Harro, the Core of the Cycle is the "development of competence" to make meaningful change, the "belief that we can succeed," and the "commitment" to see it through. More than anything, it is the "practice of love:" love of self, balance, joy, and a strong spiritual base. It is this Core that gives us the strength, resolve, values, and principles to live into the Cycle of Liberation consistently and effectively despite the inevitable challenges and resistance.
Is it liberating or terrifying to learn that we are neurologically and socially conditioned to toxic tribalism? I suppose a case can be made for either view, but liberation is far more productive and empowering. After all, once we have unmasked the biological chains that bind us, can we not recognize that a future of compassion, peace, and awareness of our interdependence is the future we all want?
References
Bitecofer, R. (2020, February 26). Hate Is on the Ballot. Retrieved from https://newrepublic.com/article/156402/hate-ballotHaidt, J. (2012). The righteous mind: why good people are divided by politics and religion. New York: Pantheon Books.
Harro, B. (2000). The Cycle of Liberation. In Working for Social Justice: Visions and Strategies for Change (pp. 463–469). New York and London: Routledge.
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