They Want Us Distracted & Traumatized
On executive orders, postmodern politics, and how to stay focused in the new Trump era.
On his first day back in office, Donald Trump signed over 20 executive orders on issues ranging from immigration, climate, public health, government reform, and trans rights. The sheer volume of new information drew the media and left-leaning activists in as many directions, with the usual infographic-makers and TikTok commentators scrambling to share information about everything from ICE raids, relocation and passport info for trans people, updates on the TikTok ban, and more.
In the online leftist political ecosystem, everyone has to share everything, all of the time.
It’s important to note, however, that an important part of political warfare in the post-truth era is overwhelming the public with information, both false and true, to attack truth itself. Pioneered in Russia, a major strategy of governments is not just to feed you with incorrect information, but to feed you with so much information—some real, some fake—that you get overwhelmed trying to determine what’s true. The point us to make you so stressed that you give up.
This is easier than ever in our increasingly fragmented media system where everyone is consuming their own news sources and algorithms push out the most enraging, terrifying content possible. Society has always been fractured on the basis of “left versus right”, but now we’re fractured at the level of the individual: everybody’s personal media-curation algorithm is feeding them slightly different bits of information with heavy editorialization. Ask your best friend, partner, sibling, or anyone else you’re extremely close with IRL to pull out their phone and compare your social media feeds side-by-side; you’ll probably find that despite sharing many of the same values as you, your feeds will be completely different. In this five-minute video posting on Trump’s inauguration day, Hasan Minhaj accurately describes the circularity of the media cycle and how it benefits nobody except the ruling class: so long as we keep arguing online instead of getting up and taking our power back through direct action, they will keep winning.
There’s plenty of evidence to back up the fact that distraction is the current Republican strategy: in their November 2020 article in Nature Communications, Stephan Lewandowsky, Michael Jetter, and Ullrich K. H. Ecker highlight how many of Trump’s tweets align with historical moments that make him look bad. Most of Trump’s most “outrageous” posts (remember covfefe?) were conveniently timed to coincide with information about Trump’s biggest failures: Mueller investigation, impeachment trials, and more. White nationalist and former Trump staffer Steve Bannon said in 2018 that his goal was to “flood the zone with shit”, referring to the way they saturated the media landscape with misinformation to sow distrust in traditional media. This to say nothing of COVID-19, which we’re still dealing with today in part because of the Trump administration’s messaging around the virus; I would say “mishandling” but I personally believe that letting the virus rip through the American population was not seen as a problem by Republican leadership whatsoever (more on that in a future post).
Fortunately, people are starting to recognize this strategy: after TikTok returned after its temporary ban last weekend, many creators pointed out that mass traumatization was an element to the ban’s implementation. Creators, especially those who were reliant on the app for a source of income, spent weeks mourning the imminent loss and preparing for their livelihoods to be taken away, only for the app to be back in under 24 hours. Now that TikTok is back, creators have returned to business as usual and have even been thanking Donald Trump for bringing the app back, as though he couldn’t still take the app away again with the stroke of his pen (let the record also show that a) Trump was the one who first promoted a TikTok ban in 2020, and b) the app returned on January 19th, before Trump was even president, which demonstrates the level of soft power he wields). This behavior can be easily mapped onto the cycle of abuse, a cycle that keeps victims (users/Americans) hooked to their perpetrator (the app/the government). As usual with Republicans, the cruelty is the point; making us feel traumatized is the point; making us feel powerless and afraid is the point. (Incidentally, destabilizing people also leads them to be more reactionary, hence the thousands of conspiracy videos about how TikTok’s algorithm has somehow “changed” since its return, despite there being little solid proof of that.)
Here’s my recommendation as something with organizing experience: in this hypersaturated media ecosystem where there are a thousand issues you could care about, your attention is going to be pulled in a thousand different directions. As much as it feels gross to “ignore” certain issues and prioritize others, I recommend picking 1-2 issues that are MOST important to you, and staying exclusively laser-focused on those. Obviously, intersectionality is a thing—you can’t help trans people without being sensitive to the unique needs of trans refugees from South America, for example—but maintaining a healthy balance of general lefty knowledge and specialized community support is crucial to your success as an activist, an advocate, or even as a regular informed citizen (although I encourage you to get involved with mutual aid even if you have zero experience with it!) Also, ignoring national news entirely may occasionally trip you up, so don’t entirely tune out necessarily, but being primarily focused on how your local, IRL community is doing will keep you from being distracted by the Bad Tweet Of The Day.
There are things that all of us should be doing: unionizing our workplaces, getting to know our next-door neighbors, and staying relatively informed about the state of the world. We also need to stick together: if it’s only trans people helping trans people, only Black people helping Black people, only cis women helping cis women, etc., we will never win. We need allies everywhere and we all need to work together. At the same time, trying to stay informed about every person and every situation is becoming impossible, and that’s on purpose. If you’re just now looking to get involved with activism, find the one thing you care about most in the world, and find a group in your area who is doing something—anything—about that one thing. You’ll be surprised how much you can accomplish if you have a community of practice.
Action Items
Order some Girl Scout cookies from a trans girl scout! Erin In The Morning compiles a list of trans and non-binary scouts every year, so go support our youth and get some great cookies in return!
Share with your colleagues: the Trans Journalists Association’s Workplace Resources Guide, for any workplace that wants to be more accommodating to trans people.
Check out Quinn Bishop and MidwestsideGunn’s tips on joining activist groups, for beginners.
Bookmark the Queer Liberation Library!
A reminder that when you’re sharing info with your network about ICE raids, be as specific as possible.
Currently Reading
404 Media on why we need decentralized social media platforms (a lack of financial incentives to post misinformation would probably help with the above a lot!!)
A heartwarming piece about a parent’s struggle to accept their trans child.
A short essay on detransitioners, from the literal experts on the subject.
Watch History
A video about how to conduct scientific studies that builds to the question of “what is truth”? I’ll be showing this one to my students this semester for sure!
A deep dive into the claim that “women couldn’t own credit cards until 1974”, an oft-repeated feminist phrase.
A brief guide to what “your data” actually means.
An essay on Hawk Tuah’s inevitable crypto rug pull and the nature of evil.
Bops, Vibes, & Jams
I’ve already pre-ordered the new Lucy Dacus album after hearing her new single, “Ankles”.
I just discovered Fana Hues 2024 album “Moth” and have been vibing to tracks like “Rental” all week!
A new Black trans rapper, paloé, with her new EP “semicolonavenue.” I see much potential in her!
“Butterflies” by TV Girl, George Clanton, and Jordana is the house track I desperately needed.
And now, your weekly Koko.
That’s all for now! See you next week with more sweet, sweet content.
In solidarity,
-Anna
Endlessly grateful for your work in putting this together. I'm always sharing your newsletters!!! Thank you!