A couple of months ago, while buying a cup of coffee, a gent came over and asked me, “What’s your paycheck for promoting the vaccine?” He was referring obviously to the Covid-19 vaccine. During the initial lockdowns, digital pandemonium broke out with some people fantasising that the lockdown state was here to stay indefinitely. They were convinced that the Government had some mysterious agenda to keep everyone indoors indefinitely. When this didn’t transpire, the panic swung to the vaccine. Fanatical reports started to circulate online claiming the vaccine was responsible for numerous deaths and severe side effects. These allegations also proved to be falsehoods, but there are still conspiracists who are adamant the claims are true and that mainstream media is simply hiding the truth.
I found myself wondering after this encounter how I should have responded to this man. Should I have dived into my default mode of sarcasm and retorted “I received no money, but I did get a fun-filled tour of the galaxy from extraterrestrials!”? Or perhaps I should have questioned his underlying assumptions which could have become a never-ending conversation. Suggesting that he was the victim of online brainwashing would have undoubtedly crossed my mind. Nonetheless, there’s little chance any response would have altered his belief that I was a paid contributor to a vast conspiracy of lies.
The sad reality is that our emotions – be it anger, fear, resentment – quite often dictate our search for so-called ‘facts’ to justify our feelings.
I remember my fellow reporter friend telling me, reflecting on the protests that took place in Coolock, that he observed a palpable disdain towards journalists, who were sadly labelled as professional purveyors of falsehood. Despite their mistrust, the majority of people he approached were willing to be interviewed, prefacing their responses with variations of, “I have no faith in mainstream media.” Adding to the existing distrust is the controversial “Great Replacement Theory,” believed by a woman who expressed her conviction that the Government was planning to substitute all the native Irish with immigrants, a theory she validated from her diligent research on TikTok.
Not long ago, we may have looked at Americans with an air of smug superiority, scoffing at the absurd beliefs that many subscribed to. Today, however, the tables have turned and we’re all in the same boat of delusion, as recent polls from the Electoral Commission conducted during the European and local elections reveal. One in five Irish individuals subscribes to the Great Replacement Theory, a third suspect that a hidden group of elites govern global political decisions, and a comparable number doubt the authenticity of scientific findings and routinely suspect concealed information. Trust is being eroded.
Although these convictions didn’t directly manifest in the election of a significant number of fringe candidates, they undoubtedly contributed to the venomous climate of campaigning. All political representatives faced harassment and threats. With a general election on the horizon, this toxic atmosphere will most likely intensify.
We may have been somewhat self-satisfied, assuming we were too sensible and cultured to succumb to trends spreading like wildfire across Europe. Nevertheless, we should have foreseen this. Even if we had anticipated it, though, how might we have confronted it? No European nation has been unaffected, nor has any found a successful solution to contain the propagation of misleading information. In response to this trend in Ireland, political leaders from both the Government and the Opposition have tried to appear stricter on immigration policies and more balanced in international protection applicants’ allotment. But the social unrest we’re witnessing isn’t just about this, it’s deeper – it’s fundamentally about two incompatible views of reality and a spiralling trust deficit.
Obviously, the web is culpable in disseminating such misleading information, but increasingly, I believe, this is also happening on a person-to-person basis. A particular trend appears to have taken root. Whenever there is a plan for a building to house asylum seekers, local citizens express their apprehensions and almost instantaneously, patriots waving the tricolour emerge. The irony lies in the fact that these patriots hardly have any positive thing to say about Ireland. They are eager to divulge what’s truly happening. Once individuals have been indoctrinated with such ideas, returning them to a state of rationality becomes immensely challenging, bordering on impossible. Facts do not seem effective; emotions have triumphed.
Just like in other nations, a segment of our populace might permanently embrace this thought process. The best we potentially can do is instruct the upcoming generation to think independently, considering the fact that our minds are often less rational than we would like to believe. It’s common for our emotions – be it anger, frustration or fear – to instigate the hunt for “facts” that align with our emotions.
Nevertheless, logic can be trained as a discipline. It’s a segment of philosophy and fits wel into the Irish education system. It imparts skills to scrutinize information, compare similar items and evade illogical reasoning. It illustrates methods to stick to the main topic.
I was taught it when I was in university, what feels like eons ago, and it has been beneficial to me. At least part of the time. My emotions still often prevail. When I was confronted by that man about the vaccine, I didn’t respond with wisdom or logic. My retort was simply abusive.
Brianna Parkins will be back next week.