Small bites no.3: Feelings don't care about your facts
There is an idea among progressives that a difference of opinion comes from ignorance. An idea that if everyone had the same access to the same information, they would logically come to the same conclusions. It then follows that it is therefore our duty as progressives to give people that information. But this is all very, very wrong.
Not only is the idea that you can cure regressive ideas with knowledge weirdly tone-deaf and paternalistic, but it's demonstrably untrue. The last 14 years, let alone all of history, should provide ample examples that human decision-making is not based on logical or rational thinking.
We've had many examples of Brexit voters losing their money, jobs, materials, businesses, employees, and working conditions as a direct result of the consequences of Brexit by now, but many still won't abandon the promise of those mythical Brexit dividends. We've seen Trump voters experiencing remorse as their economy nose-dives thanks to the exact ill-advised government actions they voted enthusiastically for mere months ago. And of course we have other examples like the Satanic Panic of the 80s and other periods of mass hysteria further back, such as the obsession with finding and persecuting imagined witches across Europe and America.
Most people decide what to do with their hearts and guts, not facts and figures. They trust the people they know, and their own experience. This is why you will never convince a stranger online that they're wrong, but beloved celebrities can get people to stuff dirty rocks into their privates and buy ridiculous supplements for fabricated problems.
The real decision-making capital of society is trust and feeling. The para-social relationships we develop with public figures are essential to their level of power over us. They are also essential for changing hearts and minds. This also applies to real social relationships.
The people you know in real life who enjoy your company, are the most likely to see your perspective and find you convincing. Real community is not just important to building progressive movements, it is absolutely essential. This is how ideas achieve exponential growth: Through heartfelt social connection.
Emotion often gets written off as a gendered frivolity or extraneous feeling to be discarded in favour of facts. I think this is a deliberate attempt to create a situation where the reality of politics becomes very different to the rules of the game. One side opens a debate with obfuscations, omissions, and outright lies, the other side gives a factual and transparent rebuttal, and still loses.
The purpose of debate is really about selling a vision, a motivation, an aura of feeling, to an audience. If you waste your time fact-checking your opponent, you lose your opportunity to sell your emotional pitch. You may be correct and telling the truth, but it means nothing if you never get to resonate in people's hearts.
The heart is where decisions happen, where votes are cast, and where hope and change live. You can't win minds, only hearts. Progressives need to give people something worth fighting for and rallying behind. What does a progressive future look like? How will it feel? Why should we desire it?
Sell me a future I can fall in love with. I'm waiting.