Note: This blog is supposed to be commentary about public issues, not personal reflections about the authors’ lives. I’m making an exception in this case, though maybe the struggle I discuss may feel familiar to others.
Valued friends and mentors sometimes tell me not to post about politics on social media. Keep it to personal updates and humor, they counsel. The reasons they give for foregoing politics generally fall into three categories – it’s bad for your career, divisive, and futile.
My Defense
When deciding how to engage on social media everyone has their own unique circumstances to navigate. But for what it’s worth, this is my answer to those criticisms.
Criticism #1: Speaking Out Is Bad for Your Career
I realize that speaking out politically on social media has hurt many a career, and therefore isn’t for everyone. But in my case, I’m late in my career, so there isn’t much left to wreck. Also, I’m my own boss, so my boss likes my politics. Moreover, a quick glance at my resume makes my political views pretty clear, so my viewpoints shouldn’t shock anyone.
Even so, if I was more guarded with my political views, it is true that conservative clients would probably be more likely to look past my past work for progressive officials and causes. They could chalk it up to youthful naivete and ignorance, and assume I had outgrown my liberalism.
But I’m not convinced being unapologetically progressive on social media has led to a net loss of business. While it probably has lost me business, it also probably has gained me business. Given the nature of my clientele, I suspect I’ve gained a bit more than I’ve lost. Just as consumer brands like Nike, Tommy Hilfiger, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Lyft, and Airbnb that have taken progressive stances don’t seem to have experienced a net loss of business, it’s possible something similar can happen to sole proprietors and individual employees like me.
But if I’ve guessed wrong about about that, if speaking out has hurt me more than helped, I’ll accept the financial consequences. At the risk of sounding self-righteous, I’d rather die financially poorer than morally poorer.
Criticism #2: Speaking Out Is Divisive
This country is really dangerously divided, and I hate to think I might be making it even more so due to my social media blatherings.
But the things that are most dividing America — bigotry, poor-bashing, greed, political corruption, unnecessary wars, etc. – undoubtedly will get much worse if we all shrug them off and effectively treat them as normal and acceptable. Indifference to divisiveness begets even more divisiveness.
I do try, with mixed results, to avoid using a tone that is needlessly divisive. For instance, I try to avoid ad hominem attacks, and other types cathartic snottyness. I also mix in personal posts — have you seen enough of my new grandson yet? — and self-effacing humor to partially disarm people who say I’m taking myself too seriously.
But as much as I’d love to stay mute about public affairs issues, I don’t. The most divisive thing anyone can do is remain silent in the face of the toxic conservative policies and rhetoric that are tearing America apart.
Criticism #3: Speaking Out Is Futile
This is the criticism that gives me the most pause. I’ll admit, speaking out on social media frequently feels totally ineffectual. With most political exchanges on social media, minds are not changed, which often leaves me feeling exhausted and discouraged.
At the same time, social media has increasingly become a huge source of news for voters. Increasingly, people don’t subscribe to news publications, and don’t seek them out much. Increasingly, they get their news from what is shared on social media. I hate to leave this powerful news platform to conservatives, so I share things the some friends wouldn’t otherwise have seen.
Speaking out on social media has worked for conservatives, so why wouldn’t it work for progressives? For many years I’ve seen conservatives who are vocal on social media channels making significant messaging gains, in these three ways.
- Conversion. First, conservatives’ social media posts do change the occasional minds of swing voters, or voters who swing back and forth between parties in their voting patterns. Though I’m pretty sure changing minds is roughly as rare for conservatives as it is for liberals, it does happen. I have friends who have become more conservative over the years in part because of the relentless conservative messaging they encounter on social media. Just because conversation is relatively rare, doesn’t mean it never happens and can’t impact the kinds of close elections that are so commonplace these days.
- Retention. Second, conservative posts help keep other conservatives conservative. That is, “preaching to the choir” ensures that conservatives are not tempted to listen to the liberal devils in their lives. It gives them ammunition for bar stool discussions. For any political movement, retention of supporters over time is not a given. Preventing erosion of support requires sustained repetition and reinforcement of messaging, and social media posting does that.
- Activation. Probably most importantly, conservative social media posters keep conservatives informed, entertained, and engaged, which sometimes helps move conservatives from being passive supporters into becoming activists and voters. That evolution helps conservatives win close elections.
If conversion, retention, and activation are happening at the hands of conservative social media posters, I see no reason why liberal social media posters can’t make the same gains.
In fact, social media outreach arguably is more badly needed on the left, since progressives don’t have the equivalent of Fox News and conservative talk radio hosts persuading and re-persuading millions of conservatives on a daily basis.
Why Bother?
To be sure, conversion, retention, and activation don’t happen without lots of relentless effort, and the weakening and loss of friendships. There are two quotes that frequently bounce around in my head when I’m pondering whether my incessant blathering is worth it.
One is from an author named Jim Watkins:
“A river cuts through rock not because of its power but because of its persistence.”
Maybe that sounds trite, but when it comes to persuasion, it’s true. That metaphor helps this exhausted progressive social media gasbag stay patient, motivated, and persistent.
The other quote I can’t stop thinking about is from another Nicole Schulman, an author and daughter of a Nazi Holocaust-era Jew:
“Nice people made the best Nazis. My mom grew up next to them. They got along, refused to make waves, looked the other way when things got ugly and focused on happier things than “politics.” They were lovely people who turned their heads as their neighbors were dragged away. You know who weren’t nice people? Resisters.”
I’m ashamed to say, I’m pretty hard-wired to be “the best Nazi” that Schulman’s mom saw. I’m a conflict averse guy. I’m insecure enough to instinctively want to please everyone. So wading into the much-hated “politics on Facebook” isn’t instinctive or comfortable for me.
Still, I can’t stand the thought of remaining silent as conservatives dominate social media channels unrebutted, and fascism grows unabated. With the stakes that high, annoying my friends with political posts on Facebook feels like a democratic duty that’s well worth the trade-off.
You are 100% correct. Whether there is any chance you and your views can succeed in this milieux Is highly debatable. That you should try is not!
My brother who recently died is one of the people who I greatly respected and admired who really thought I was being foolish with my social media posts.
I understand that it is irritating. I understand it is not a panacea…that it’s not the only tactic needed.
But I don’t understand the conclusion that it’s futile. If we agree that conservatives social media sharing and posting is working to conservatives’ advantage, how can we at the same time think it’s futile for liberals to do the same thing?
Thank you, Joe. I just shared that Jim Watkins quote with a Facebook group I belong to.
Drip, drip, drip…
Dear Joe/ El Jefe: As you might suspect, I feel your pain. Every time my fingers approach the keyboard the thought, “Who the fuck cares?” goes through my mind.
But, as Mitch McConnell famously said, still I “persist.” Why? Because, A: Writing and posting helps me organize my thoughts, such as they are. But also B: Because I feel an obligation — as someone who follows the news and analysis more than most — to offer some kind of counter to the truly astonishing waves of misinformation pumped out by people I, and facts, regard as self-serving nihilists. People and organizations with little to no concern for the quaint notion of “the fabric of a civilized society.”
If three people read something you or I write and it adds a bit to the next conversation they have with a “persuadable” friend or colleague — well hell, mission accomplished.
That said, I realize that just as I benefit from your adult demeanor, you are certainly hobbled by my adolescent ravings. I don’t have a client base to serve or avoid upsetting. If I did, my tone might change. But having worked for the so-called “mainstream press”, with editors laser-focused on avoiding the provocation of “partisan” emotions, I find a blog quite satisfying. There’s a modest catharsis in saying exactly what I want to say.
The “both sides/false equivalency” business, which you have written about several times, and is so cherished by the traditional press, has always seemed to me just as much an act of calculated political/financial positioning as someone ranting about Trumpism and his racist, troglodyte mobs. The only difference being that what NYC journalism prof Jay Rosen calls “the view from nowhere” guarantees little to no adverse reaction.
All that said, and by way of encouraging you to soldier on, allow me to express my gratitude for hosting this space as long as you have, and allowing me, your humble serf, to embarrass myself week after week.
Oh, and screw the bastards.
It takes all kinds to save a democracy. PR 101: Some are persuaded more by Tone A and some more persuaded by Tone B. And both groups need persuading.
Substantively we agree on everything. But our tone differs because 1) our respective psychological wiring (i.e. I’m more cautious in general than you); 2) you’re a significantly more talented analyst and writer; and, to a lesser degree, 3) because I’m an “you only eat what you kill” consultant who is mindful that I have clients who don’t all love colorful, unvarnished truth-telling. Honestly, the first two factors are much bigger drivers than the last one. Even when I retire one of these days, I’ll still be encumbered mightily by the first two leg irons.
As for your expression of gratitude, I’ll see and raise it. I’m not a big public display of affection (PDA) fella, but allow me to give you a big wet one here. It’s me who should be most thankful to you and Noel for your amazing contributions here. I’m proud to be associated such talented and prolific thinkers, humorists, and writers, and am very mindful that having you here helps me look a bit better by association. I’m a spinner by profession, but this isn’t spin. It’s just the truth.
Joe … the check’s in the mail. And look at your schedule and see if you can fit in a happy hour with Maritz and I before the summer is gone.
Well, you are right on all your points, Joe.
But Facebook is SUCH a cesspool!
Is it where one MUST go to fight this battle?
I’d argue for face-to-face personal encounters . . . which I can no longer even attempt myself, because of personal vulnerability if the COVID-19 virus caught me.
It starts to look as if “my” time has come and gone.
I always used to say that it was my intention to “go down fighting.” Less and less does that pledge seem to be merely a morsel of grandiose rhetorical, and more and more does it seem likely to be fulfilled in the most literal sense.
Just say no…to Facebook.