The sudden popularity of the social satire movement Birds Aren’t Real is instructive in more ways than one. Those who invented it, at first as a joke, then as something badly needed in our society, figured out something about belonging: it trumps almost everything else.
The craving to belong e explains a lot about American politics and society right now. It’s what’s behind the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. It’s why you can’t convince Q-Anon believers to think rationally, It’s why logic doesn’t work and why fact checking does no good and tabulating Trump’s non-stop lies may even be counterproductive: It helps bond together his believers. Believing lies has become the entry card into the club; hyperbole is the password. .
The Birds Aren’t Real folks realized that when belonging is what really matters, the only thing to do is to fight absurdity with absurdity. That’s why they are flying so high. As they say: .Want shelter in a snow storm? Build an igloo. (Want to know more about the movement? Listen to the New York Times’ podcast The Daily for February 9, 2022).
Don’t be surprised:, Birds Aren’t Real became a way of belonging, too. People aren’t content to satirize other people’s conspiracy theories,; they want one of their own, and they want to join with others of a similar disposition. They want to belong.
…
That can all be good fun, but, as we all know, there’s a darker side to the craving tyo belong.
What went wrong?
Were old forms of belonging -- the neighborhood, the book club, the Saturday night poker game, the Sunday morning coffee hour -- destroyed by Covid or and / or social media? Or was the trouble already brewing years ag when civility and collegiality went into decline? Or?
What’s your take on it?
The craving to belong e explains a lot about American politics and society right now. It’s what’s behind the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. It’s why you can’t convince Q-Anon believers to think rationally, It’s why logic doesn’t work and why fact checking does no good and tabulating Trump’s non-stop lies may even be counterproductive: It helps bond together his believers. Believing lies has become the entry card into the club; hyperbole is the password. .
The Birds Aren’t Real folks realized that when belonging is what really matters, the only thing to do is to fight absurdity with absurdity. That’s why they are flying so high. As they say: .Want shelter in a snow storm? Build an igloo. (Want to know more about the movement? Listen to the New York Times’ podcast The Daily for February 9, 2022).
Don’t be surprised:, Birds Aren’t Real became a way of belonging, too. People aren’t content to satirize other people’s conspiracy theories,; they want one of their own, and they want to join with others of a similar disposition. They want to belong.
…
That can all be good fun, but, as we all know, there’s a darker side to the craving tyo belong.
What went wrong?
Were old forms of belonging -- the neighborhood, the book club, the Saturday night poker game, the Sunday morning coffee hour -- destroyed by Covid or and / or social media? Or was the trouble already brewing years ag when civility and collegiality went into decline? Or?
What’s your take on it?