What’s next after the apocalyptic presidency?

Reflections based upon our conversation with Girl Problems Band, and its lead singer Nick Weber.

Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness for All 

In the Declaration Of Independence it says that we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. 

But the Declaration never imagined a creature like Donald Trump. So now more than ever we can’t assume anything and sometimes we need a song to show us the way. And concession or not, very soon the world won’t be beholden to the tweeter in chief anymore.

This is a period in history that people will not soon forget,  what with a once in a century pandemic, precedent defying post election chaos in the US, the transformation of the monetary system via blockchain. So with that in mind, Nick Weber and his band, Girl Problems,  break the gravitas with an inspired hilarious arrangement of a timeless classic song reworked to perfection to reflect the lunacy of What DJ T has wrought upon our political system. 

How can we explain or understand the madness of Trump’s presidency?  For the past 4 years the entire country has been turned upside down, fueled by ethnic divisions, lack of empathy and open hatred, all instigated by the Hater in Chief, who seemed to get his ideas from the “divide and conquer politics” of ancient Rome. Some people say that division always existed within the American society, and that Trump’s politics only brought it to the surface. However, I want to present a different view on things and the nature of human behavior as seen through the lenses of social sciences.

Society’s fabric is an ever evolving matrix of interdependent parts.  On the meta level, we, as a society, can always choose the narrative we want to follow. Cultural anthropology shows us that the spectrum of human characteristics is vast and varies depending on the culture. On a practical level, a fundamental rule of social sciences is that society produces the people it needs so as to fulfill its intrinsic function which could be production of wealth for the 1% (American example) or the betterment of the whole population (Scandinavian example).

If we promote cooperation, empathy, social and economic justice we will create a society that is driven by such values. It is a simple equation for the magnitude of complex mechanisms that form the prevalent narratives of our times. Supported and perpetuated by the country’s chief leader, the prevalent narrative ought to reflect the Constitution, and support human rights. In a situation where the president is denying freedom or decent living conditions to its people, a dangerous narrative is gaining the foothold. This process amplified by the echo-chamber of social media preys on our weakest impulses and encourages us to hide behind screens, emboldening us to espouse ideas we would not dare to do so in an accountable, face to face context, until it escalates, creating the optimal conditions for social unrest and driving people to act out on the narrative of division. 

There is a great talk by professor Maya Wiley who is currently running for mayor of New York City from the New York City Media Lab Summit. In her lecture from 2018, she talks about the fact that our data driven global economy is, in fact, dependent on the creation of meaning.

That creation of meaning is also the main advice Barack Obama gave Joe Biden. In a recent interview promoting his new book, he explained that the main mistake of his presidency was the belief that if you do good things and follow your ideals in creating policies people will understand what you are doing. However, he tells Joe Biden “that in order for people to know, you need to inform them about all of your actions on a regular basis”, create meaning for them, define your directions at each step. State your narrative, and keep on explaining it. It seems obvious, right? But perhaps the most obvious things are those that are in our midst, and thus escape us. 

This is the difference between the two presidents, Obama who finds value in keeping the citizens informed, and Trump with the fog of tweets, fake news, and division tactics. The first  representing the American people, and the latter using the presidency to further inflate his pocketbook and ego. Two very different narratives, and leadership styles. 

The bottom line is to maintain the environment of democratic society, and put in place an effective supervisory system for big tech, which to a frightening degree, controls modern society. There is a lot of work to be done, in the sphere of digital information technology. Looking back at the role Cambridge Analytica played in the US presidential elections of 2016, we can speculate that without its subversive campaigns Trump would have never won. The architecture of social media channels, and the digital environment has been created with profit in mind, not to support Constitutional values, as, for example, NPR does. In the light of what we know now, after 4 years of the biggest presidential failure, and also what Silicon Valley leaders decided to disclose in the recent documentary “The Social Dilemma”, we better understand the challenges of the Information Age. 

The executive and legislative bodies ought to not only communicate the narrative but also to co-create, working in tandem with Big Tech, an equitable society, and ultimately humane civilization. 

What’s next after the apocalyptic presidency? Let’s hope Girl Problems will be able to focus on making music about…the girl problems, and no longer feel the civil duty of protecting our democracy. 

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