Metaphorical Problems

I sometimes think that some of the sources of our government and political problems are the metaphors through which we think about them. In the 19th century nearly everyone was a farmer and, consequently, thinking in terms of agricultural was natural, even inevitable. You prepare the soil, sow the seed, tend the crops, and reap the harvest. It was when people began thinking in terms of machines that problems began to arise because the real world more closely resembles the the vagaries of agriculture than they do building machines. In the real world it is rarely a simple case of buying more components to produce more outputs. Look at the policies and organizations assembled from the 1930s through the 1950s. They are very mechanical and deterministic and very few of the assumptions that were made in constructing them have held true.

In a period of about a century our politics has gone from the retail politics of canvassing, persuading, and encouraging to television (broadcast) to Facebook. You enroll followers. You unfriend those you don’t want. Within the cozy walled garden of your Facebook page you’re talking to people who agree with you which encourages escalation. Continuous feedback is built into the system (it’s one of the factors that keeps you coming back).

None of that has anything to do with the real world. It gives you no insight into what will actually work—just what your followers like. Importantly, it actually conceals from you that there are other people out there who have beliefs and convictions of their own that may well be diametrically proposed to yours and those of your followers.

Like it or not we’re entering a Facebook world. Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.