The Deplorables

This expression, when uttered by Hillary Clinton, became one of the costliest mistakes in her recent political campaign; it nailed the lid on the coffin.

But what I am addressing is not a direct political issue, but rather a thought or phenomenon that kept reoccurring in my mind while I was writing a recently published historical article. In its introduction, I argued that in today’s world, for the general population, the most used and influential way of learning history was based on the adage that, people would rather see the movie than read the book.  I went on to argue that visualizing museum artifacts and watching movies is a commonplace method of learning historical lessons and in actuality, it becomes the main source of all information gathering.

Does anyone recall Marshall McLuhan saying, that the medium is the message? Perhaps not, since his writings and theories are most often communicated and studied in written form, in print. Reading books or printed articles and newspapers is the least used manner of gathering information in today’s world unless it arrives through a short blurb based on some variation of an LCD screen.

This LCD screen has become the delivery method of information.

Thus follows an unusual spate of events. One that is open to manipulation in the hands of malevolent but technically savvy individuals.

As a starter, let us not forget, the underlying technology of the “captive touchscreen.”  This is a tactical term used to describe the instrument known as the cell phone. It is the underlying method that brilliant minds have developed into many appealing techniques such as  “the endless scroll”. Utilizing the Dopamine mediated reward system, programmers design interactions known as Reward          Prediction Error Encoding (RPE). This reward principle is a widespread method utilized by the gambling industry, and more recently, the dumbest and most malevolent president the United States has ever had. The effectiveness of the Twitter Feed is based on a chemical reward system just described, hence its popularity.

The Deplorables are spreading a contagion far more widespread than the Black Plague of Medieval times.

Ironically, the endpoint in today’s world is democracy at its worst.

It is a worldwide democracy impenetrable by customary practices of censorship and equally available for the truth as well as lies.

Thus, when the lunatic’s voice is equally as loud as that of a respected academic or government official, democracy begins to resemble anarchy.

So, why does this matter so much? It matters because a new world order is looming over the horizon and it will engulf us all. Remember Populism? It began as a variation of Nationalism. And, as dangerous as Nationalism may be-one variation became Hitler’s Nazis-it still retained a rationale, even though only when viewed from the inside.

However, the current trend leads into the world of fake news, a place where truth is no longer distinguishable from the lie.

Here, we enter the territory of the suicidal climate change deniers.

So, what’s the point? The answer comes by turning on the television news, or reading the news. The deplorables are the newsmakers; the deplorables rule the electorate.