By Mike Lavelle
I recently spoke with a friend, and, as often happens, our discussion wandered into the realm of politics. In terms of demographics, we have very little in common, but we both are able to bridge our differences by being able to dialogue in a civil manner, and, hopefully, learn from our discussions.
This is a good thing at this time as there are lots of challenging issues and topics confronting our nation, and people have very strong ideas. As often happens when I have a good discussion, thoughts get prompted. Here are some of my thoughts prompted from this discussion.
The dynamics of social psychology and human nature plays a very strong role in the issues confronting our nation. As Aristotle taught, we are social and political creatures. Another way of looking at it is that humans are basically tribal. We exist in groups, we compete with groups, we coordinate with groups, and we cooperate with groups. We are all familiar with the graduated groups of family, neighborhood, city, state, and nation. There are, of course, many other groups that people divide into. I am reminded of when I had a Jeep Wrangler, how fellow Jeep Wrangler drivers would wave, as if to acknowledge there was a special distinction that separated Jeep drivers from all other cars.
Having had different motorcycles in my life, I have noticed the same thing, groups riding certain brands will tend to wave more at others who ride the same brand. Still others will wave at all other motorcyclists, and even then, this reflects an awareness of a shared group membership. I have noticed sometimes that some motorcyclists will refer to car drivers as “cagers,” which I always found odd. It always seemed to carry with it some diminished status, as if they were bound by a cage, not “free.” Yet, don’t most of us motorcycle riders have cars also? I just see it as a function of in-group identity.
Research has demonstrated that simply dividing individuals in groups can foster ingroup bias accompanied sometimes by outgroup hostility. Ingroup formation involves differentiation of the social landscape into those that are acknowledged to be “us” and those that fall outside that boundary. When groups are differentiated along a single primary categorization, like a political party, that some hostility can exist towards out-group members. Groups will seek to maintain the boundary to protect the integrity of the in-group. In-group membership also provides a sense of social identity and belonging. When groups are in competition over political power, this threatens group identity, thus, ingroups become bound communities and boundary maintenance factors serve to define and limit the ingroup, in order to protect group identity.
This is especially true when there is conflict with other groups over power or resources. One way a group exercises boundary maintenance is to exert normative influence over group norms, often through social pressure, often to “protect” perceived group integrity. This means that somebody “on the boundary” is subject to group pressure to come back into coherence with the behaviors or beliefs of the group, as a whole.
Group dynamics, especially when in conflict, can generate ingroup bias, prejudice, stereotypes, and even discrimination. This is very easy to see as political leaders condemn the actions and behaviors of those not in their group, but excuse or minimize the behaviors or actions of members in their group. There is a sense of protecting the integrity of the group. Additionally, to the extent that outgroups do not subscribe to the same perceived moral rules, indifference is replaced by denigration and contempt and can be reinforced by a sense of moral superiority.
Unfortunately, at a time of conflict and serious disagreement, factors of group conflict will be complicated by completely false social media posts, exaggeration or minimization of actions, facts, statements, or beliefs of members of the in or out group. I have from time to time, jumped from watching MSNBC, CNN, and Fox to see, not only very different “spins” on the news, but also very selective coverage of events according to the politics of the network and even the host.
Simply put, I have noticed that all of them will sometimes ignore a news event or story that does not fit with their “programming,” or they will “spin” the interpretation to fit a narrative. There have been countless times where somebody has forwarded to me a “fact” that further research shows to be purposely misconstrued or outright false.
Additionally, I have had the experience where the media reported on something that I either had first-hand experience with, or was very familiar with, only to find them very inaccurate in their coverage, and sometimes just flat out wrong in reporting. I suspect we all have had similar experiences. I don’t expect the media to be experts on all aspects of life, but the point remains that one has to be careful on what is reported. What else is reported that I do not have knowledge about and thus, don’t know that it is misleading?
Given these facts, one of the sites I favor is PolitiFact, a Pulitzer Prize winning nonpartisan, nonprofit that evaluates political statements -https://politifact.org. Another site is https://www.factcheck.org/
Finally, in discussion with my friend, she made a claim that was very different from what was widely reported in the media, of multiple sources. I checked with PolitiFact and discovered that this widespread assertion (covered for weeks in the media) was spun into something much different than it was, and in some cases, purposely and widely misrepresented. It is a learning experience that underscores the challenge we all face – some of what we are told is simply not true, or it is slanted to become something it is or was not. If we can be civil in our discourse with an awareness that our understanding could be somewhat inaccurate, we stand to have better relations with friends and family, as well as having a better understanding of what actually happened.
Mike Lavelle is retired and formerly worked part-time as the editor at The Vail Voice. He lived in the Del Webb community in Vail but now resides in Sierra Vista.
