NYU Black Renaissance Noire NYU Black Renaissance Noire Vol 17.1: Winter 2017 | Page 10

editorial

My Take

By Quincy Troupe
The question is : why ?
Why was Donald J . Trump , arguably one of the most woefully unqualified , temperamentally unfit candidates ever to run for the most powerful office of the most powerful country in the world , elected the 45th President of the United States of America ? All concerned , literate US citizens should ask themselves : what impact does the deep ignorance displayed by so many voters portend for the fabric of our nation ’ s democracy , now seemingly an oligarchy controlled by plutocrats and kleptocrats or to use a Greek word , “ kakistocracy ” ( government by the worst people )? What does this new structure herald ?
After Donald Trump won the election , the distinguished , highly respected journalist , Bill Moyers wrote : “ America died on November 8 , 2016 , not with a bang or a whimper , but at its own hand via electoral suicide . We the people chose a man who has shredded our values , our morals , our compassion , our tolerance , our decency , our sense of common purpose , our very identity — all the things that , however tenuously , made a nation out of a country . Whatever place we now live in is not the same place it was on Nov . 7 . No matter how the rest of the world looked at us on Nov . 7 , they will now look at us differently . We are likely to be a pariah country . And we are lost for it .”
This is a strong statement by Mr . Moyers .
Yet , I am absolutely astonished by the profound , accumulating , unabashed ignorance of many people living in the United States today . It is breathtaking how little so many American citizens read other than the trivia from social media accounts that appear on their smart phone screens , while others only read like-minded posts from friends as ignorant as they are . Low iq , knuckle-headed conservatism , and overt racism are also important factors in the widespread willful ignorance on display everywhere today in our starkly divided ( especially when it comes to politics ) country .
According to Dr . Brian Nosek , writing in The Huffington Post in September 2016 , so many people don ’ t even have “ the cognitive ability to grasp complexities of our world .” If his theory is true , it could mean , perhaps , that these “ people ” might find a more appealing place for themselves in a cultural environment of racial purity , controlled by a right-wing religious ideology rather than embracing a more liberal world view characterized by an acceptance of complexity in ethnicity , race , religion , and political affairs .
Why ?
Dr . Nosek goes on to write : “ ideologies get rid of the messiness and impose a simple solution ” for many . If Nosek ’ s premise is true , it explains why “ ideologies ” couched in simple slogans like “ Make America Great Again ” found such stalwart support among so many of the electorate that voted for Donald Trump . The same can be said of slogans like “ Take our Country Back ,” initiated by flag-waving , gun-toting Tea Party rabble-rousers protesting Barack Obama ’ s entry into the White House in 2008 .
If people with low intelligence have poor abstract reasoning skills , it ’ s not surprising they may become more susceptible to rhetoric that targets pure emotional feelings and feel more community with those who might be the same racially and ethnically as themselves and who may share similar emotions . People with poor abstract reasoning ability might also be drawn to simplistic solutions when tackling differences of race and culture : it may be simpler to reject ideas in a narrow world of sameness than struggle to understand those who embrace a world view of complexity .
Embracing ideological attitudes comprised of simplistic solutions in a multicultural , multi-racial , diverse religious culture like the United States is bound to cause problems . Case in point : the wide disparagement between beliefs of many White ( Evangelicals , Protestants and Catholics ) and a great majority of African-Americans , Latinos and Asians when worshipping in segregated Christian churches on Sunday mornings , despite the fact all Christians cite the Bible as the source of their faith . On the other hand , White Christians — and many African-Americans , Latinos and some Asians — are prone to reject the Bible ’ s religious morality and scripture teachings to embrace narrow , non-biblical views , when protesting against abortions and opposing same sex marriages .
Many of these differences were borne out in the November 2016 elections . White Evangelicals diverged again from African-American , Latino and Asian Evangelical Christians . White Christian Evangelicals voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump and most Christian Evangelicals of color voted for Hillary Clinton . Other factors in the outcome of this election were economic , regional , and cultural splits — rich versus poor , professional versus working-class , North versus South , urban versus rural , coastal versus inland , educated versus non-educated voters . Not to be overlooked or discounted is the impact of political gerrymandering , voter suppression in key states , and plain old misogyny .
All of these factors fed into the race-baiting rhetoric , obfuscations , and downright lies Donald Trump used with masterful success against Hillary Clinton . It shouldn ’ t come as a shock to any intelligent progressive person that the belief in White ( male ) supremacy in this country continues to be buttressed by the influence of right-wing conservative talk radio blowhards like Rush Limbaugh , Sean Hannity , and media moguls like Rupert Murdoch and others . On the other hand , a majority of White females — especially those who were married — both younger and older women — also voted for Mr . Trump .
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