The dangerous power of social media

Ihave some misgivings about writing this because I always held “social media” in disdain as the turf of misfit geeks or something similar.

After President Trump’s inauguration, as his habit of “tweeting” and airing his intentions to set the political agenda came to light, I still viewed it all as part of his strange assortment of quirks, but fearfully came to recall how in my childhood Herr Goebbels and Hitler habitually used the radio for what then was called propaganda.

But the absolutely devastating power of the “social media” platform came home with eyeopening clarity after the Doha negotiation with the Taliban, where the then-sitting President announced to the world that we are getting out of Afghanistan and how shortly after the Afghan Army vanished in thin air.

While our military leaders were surprised, members of the Afghan Army clearly understood at that moment that the legitimacy of their existence had just ceased to exist. No such occurrence could have been imagined in earlier times, where both the intentions and the desired outcomes were so universally understood by the parties concerned, without the enabling features of information technology. Communication is an art form, and President Trump is giving a lesson to all as to how to do it and trashing the traditional time-aged practices of Congress into oblivion.

The former President is playing a similar game with our election mechanism, already having convinced almost half of the public that we may not be as legitimate as we think. What should have evoked an outright outrage by the Democratic Party in power, is now being lawyered into obscurity and allowing the previous President to actively disrupt the incumbent President’s agenda. Given our deadlocked Congress of the last 20 years, we have a lot of catching up to do .

But we cannot get it done. The power to disrupt through a campaign of outright lies what used to be traditional political process is infinite. The power of the online information technology is so immediate to create unity of effort politically, that the normal Congressional and media responses in the public opinion domain simply cannot compete.

What we now face is a behavioral health nightmare in our society. The Trump era has ushered in loss of dignity and absence of morality that is unprecedented and is now world renowned.

The loss of civility and the bullying by violent mobs is disconcerting and we can whine about it, but until the former President can act out his fantasy that he is above the law, he will change America forever.

The political stance of the Biden crowd as presently constituted is no match for Trump. The powerful communication platforms are neutral and the former president’s assertiveness gives the impression that President Biden is not fully in the saddle. In sum, the political power, well within reach of an elected President needs to be used to to sustain his legitimacy and simply neutralize the shocking antics of the loser. The power of information technology platforms should not compromise the constitutional process and create the chaos we are experiencing.