Hank Green had a recent video on this thatâs super applicable. His basic idea was that our (American) society has shifted to the point where everything the mass public does, including politics/voting, is basically vibes-based. So, politicians who are successful get successful based off vibes and aesthetic.
The video contrasts Trump and Mamdani- basically, Mamdani uses aesthetic and the flashy, âlook at me helping youâ social media vibe of his to get the less flashy but more important stuff done. It will help New Yorkers, but they donât care about that until after itâs already done, and even then they might not realize what actually happened.
Trump, on the other hand, does aesthetic and thatâs it. His policies donât make logical sense because he doesnât care about logic- he does something because it sounds tough or it sounds patriotic. Thereâs two problems with this- tough and patriotic in the American sense are incredibly violent and bigoted, and Trump is really good at being âtough and patrioticâ.
This is why to me, political division isnât something that we can fix or compromise our way out of. Weâre stuck in a system of aesthetics and so long as we are, it will always be the hopeful voting for the aesthetic of hope, and the âtough and patrioticâ voting for the oppressive, fascist aesthetic of âtough and patrioticâ. To me, it is unfathomably difficult to convince the entire American population to think critically about elected officials. Either we need to hope that the only people to ever be good at using aesthetics use them for good like Mamdani, or we need a new system.
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