You’d think that if there was anything that could unite Americans, it would be a foreign attack — think Pearl Harbor or 9/11.
Well, let me say this to you: Russia and China have built a vast disinformation apparatus designed to undermine democracies from within and bolster authoritarianism around the world.
At Pearl Harbor and on 9/11, our enemies attacked us physically. Today, China and Russia are attacking us in less physical, but more invasive and perhaps existential ways.
They seek to undermine notions of intersubjective truth, faith in democracy, and trust in one another. Put bluntly, they seek to poison our minds in order to destabilize our culture and our politics.
And they seem to be succeeding. In fairness, they don’t have to try very hard; they just have to amplify our existing divisions. “We are a highly polarized society.” How many times have you heard this? How many times do we repeat it to ourselves?
The situation is no better around the world. Democracies are facing a loss of hope. New York Times columnist David Brooks recently warned that “authoritarians are on the rise.”
Still, there is a silver lining: let’s call them political “normals.”
These are Americans who want to move away from “false eyelash” performance politics. They’re not the most vocal group in the public eye, but they prefer bipartisan pragmatism to “dominating” others. They may be America’s best response to its authoritarian enemies.
But first, to answer any skeptics about how Russia and China have stepped up their propaganda, I must share with you some details from Anne Applebaum’s cover story in The Atlantic. It’s eye-opening.
She documents in detail how Russia and China have “turned their mechanisms of repression outward.”
Over the past decade or so, China has built up a media empire that includes news agencies, television and radio stations, and a robust social media presence in multiple languages and countries, particularly in Africa, Latin America and Asia, all backed by billions of dollars in state funding.
This media infrastructure has allowed Chinese media to partner with local journalists, providing them with training courses, stipends and even laptops and cell phones in exchange for the positive coverage the regime expects.
And it’s not just the news: They’re using entertainment like kung fu movies, soap operas, and even sporting events to “send a positive message to China.”
Content is cheap, sometimes free, and authoritarian regimes such as Russia, Iran and Venezuela are taking full advantage of it through content-sharing agreements.
On the more sinister side, Russians have been particularly vocal in using media and online accounts to spread conspiracy theories about key issues like the U.S. elections, Ukraine, immigration, and anything else that serves Russian interests, which appears to include further dividing Americans.
What is their purpose?
Overall, they are trying to destroy the rules-based international order, a system built with U.S. backing to end wars of aggression after World War II. Destroying it would also deal a major blow to international law and the economic prosperity of the West. Russia’s war in Ukraine is a frontal attack on this system.
Another goal for Russia and China is their own national preservation: by spreading doubt, confusion, anger and apathy towards democracy among as many people as possible, they increase the chances of suppressing such sentiment at home.
“If people are naturally drawn to images of human rights, the language of democracy, and dreams of freedom,” Applebaum writes, “those concepts must be poisoned.” And poisoned, I would add, at their source.
This is why it took the U.S. Congress several months to pass a significant aid bill for Ukraine.
Supporting Ukraine should have been the right thing to do, but this is what happened. What could be more core to our values as Americans than supporting another democratic nation fighting a brutal dictatorship, especially one that meddles in nearly everyone’s affairs and puts the integrity of the entire international order at risk?
But then something interesting happened in the House of Representatives: the two parties came together to pass a $95 billion rescue package in April. Bipartisanship on full display.
That’s where “regular people” come in. Comedian Bill Maher recently used the term to describe “a vast middle class that’s tired of partisanship.” He calls them “regular people who aren’t part of this extremism on either side.”
He doesn’t go into much detail about the exact makeup of this group, but I think we can make a guess. They might be Republicans, Democrats, Independents, or even “moderates.” Cutting through the fog of pundit opinions and social media outrage, many of them converge on fundamental values, which means they’re not ideologically bound. They’re easily persuaded and open to compromise. They want solutions to problems. And most importantly, as Maher suggested, they know they can’t hate the other person: “Half the country isn’t going to voluntarily deport.”
Ah, yes, normal people. They help us mature politically. As fully grown political adults in a digital world, they help us understand that “dominating” and “destroying” our fellow Americans on social media is beginning to feel archaic and counterproductive.
They can help heal our internal divisions, knowing that a good incentive to do so is external authoritarians who want to amplify the divisions and change us. Our adversaries want us to hate each other.
Patriotism has a bad rap among some voters. But “ordinary patriotism” may be the best way to reverse the tide of authoritarianism. It sends a signal to other countries that bipartisanship, civil debate, and democracy works. And it reminds us that our own democracy needs to be tended like a garden.
Terrance J. Mintner is a news editor and writer living in the Midwest.
