Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of
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late-night thoughts about democracy S 51<br />
believed that <strong>the</strong> appeal <strong>to</strong> our lesser side was essential both <strong>to</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> art <strong>of</strong> selling and <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> “engineering <strong>of</strong> consent” that he<br />
considered necessary <strong>to</strong> maintain <strong>the</strong> stability <strong>of</strong> democracy in<br />
mass societies. 2 People distracted by consumption, which is <strong>to</strong> say<br />
<strong>the</strong> thoroughly infantilized, seldom disturb <strong>the</strong> public order or<br />
become zealous revolutionaries. Bernays’ methods—<strong>the</strong> appeal <strong>to</strong><br />
fear and resentment above all—have been adapted <strong>to</strong> U.S. politics<br />
with a degree <strong>of</strong> artfulness that might have surprised even<br />
Bernays. 3 But it would not have as<strong>to</strong>nished <strong>the</strong> many critics <strong>of</strong><br />
democracy from ancient A<strong>the</strong>ns <strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> present who believe that<br />
people in general are ignorant, foolish, gullible, selfi sh, and incapable<br />
<strong>of</strong> sustained rationality. Harvard economist Joseph Schumpeter,<br />
for example, believed that “<strong>the</strong> typical citizen drops down<br />
<strong>to</strong> a lower level <strong>of</strong> mental performance as soon as he enters <strong>the</strong><br />
political fi eld” (1962, p. 262). The American voter, according <strong>to</strong><br />
Rick Shenkman, is pretty stupid—distracted by consumption, ill<br />
informed, lazy, and mentally defi cient—and ripe for <strong>the</strong> plucking,<br />
but he proposes only more civic education (2008, pp. 177–179).<br />
O<strong>the</strong>r observers blame <strong>the</strong> lack <strong>of</strong> leadership. Classical scholar<br />
Loren Samons, for example, asks: “When was <strong>the</strong> last time modern<br />
Americans heard a politician, journalistic commenta<strong>to</strong>r, or<br />
even a character in a popular fi lm openly claim that what <strong>the</strong><br />
majority—what ‘<strong>the</strong> American people’—want or think is ei<strong>the</strong>r<br />
morally wrong or intellectually bankrupt? But that’s what real<br />
leaders must do, especially in a democracy” (2004, p. 201).<br />
Whatever <strong>the</strong> various causes, <strong>the</strong> skeptics <strong>of</strong> democracy seem<br />
<strong>to</strong> be vindicated by our political life in recent decades. The depth<br />
<strong>of</strong> our political discourse has been mostly inversely proportional<br />
<strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> gravity <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> issues. Abortion, for one, has generated great<br />
controversy and media attention, while issues having <strong>to</strong> do merely<br />
with <strong>the</strong> mutilation <strong>of</strong> life on <strong>the</strong> Earth, which is <strong>to</strong> say <strong>the</strong> abortion<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> human prospect, have been mostly greeted by something<br />
ranging from awkward silence <strong>to</strong> ridicule. Sigmund Freud<br />
and Carl Jung thought that our political behavior refl ected <strong>the</strong>