If the last year brought with it any developments in near hindsight, it is the victory of emotion over reason in American politics. Mostly on the Left, but also post-election on the Right, Americans preferred hysteria over logic and drama over data.
How else do we explain the riots of last year? Charges of police brutality were the rationale for burning down cities. Did it matter that the “victims” were often at fault? No. Did it matter that justice is not achieved through pillage and arson? No. Did it matter that by defunding police cities only brought more destruction upon themselves? No. What mattered was the wailing of inane charges with no basis in reality but with every basis in leftist narratives and emotional posturing. As the saying goes in media, if it bleeds it leads. And in 2020, America bled needless drama all over herself. The crazies had the microphone and they weren’t giving it up.
Then there’s the histrionic virus double standard. It is screeched at us that even the slightest contact with the outside world could trigger catching Covid-19. But then funerals, memorial services, political gatherings, private dinners, riots, and a host of other Democrat and leftist events all were magically excused from the scope of the virus, according to the media. Somehow you could stand or sit cheek to jowl at a Democrat dog and pony show and the virus would miraculously pass you over. But, go to the convenience store for a loaf of bread, forget your mask in the car, and perfect strangers will bewail your sins to the heavens, you superspreader, you. However, it’s not about the mask at all. It’s just a nice opportunity for those people to wallow in drama, for them to say, “Look at me! I’m screaming and frothing because I’m a good person!” Logic and 95 percent recovery rates be damned, it’s important to them that they scream. It’s the way they deal with life.
Finally there was the post election fracas and the assault on the Capitol. Some on the Right, contrary to available data, claimed the president won in a landslide. Their emotions wanted it so badly the drama blinded them to reality. Then various players told them they had won by a landslide and guaranteed Biden would never be inaugurated. And because of an addiction to the ongoing drama they bought it. Now they also state that Biden’s inauguration is the end of the democratic process, the troops in DC are there to forcibly keep him in power, and that free speech is at an end. They claim free speech is at an end, as they are publicly exercising their free speech rights on social media, which they also claim is a totalitarian tool. Hysterics unbound. Thus the normally logical and empirical Right has, to some extent, fallen prey to a confirmation bias so deep as not to be explained by normal political allegiance.
Then January 6th came and went and the same drama queens on the Left who told us earlier violent riots were the legitimate voice of the people, now said that this particular violent riot was a coup that threatened the very core of our Republic. Really? You would think many burned and gutted cities would pose more of a threat to the nation. But not if facts, data, and empirical evidence mean nothing to you and drama and emotion are the way you process reality. Then any harebrained notion will seem completely acceptable, as long as you agree with it.