May I have your divided attention?
Megan Garber has a recent piece for The Atlantic, “The Great Fracturing of American Attention,” where she notes the current work on the importance of attention. In particular, Garber talks about resisting distraction and choosing what we give our attention to and for how long — especially in a post-Trump political world.
To demonstrate the point of the importance of attention and avoiding distraction, Garber reminds us of this quote, "The Democrats don't matter," Steve Bannon, that noted purveyor of noise, said in 2018. "The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with sh*t." This idea, "flooding the zone with sh*t," is perhaps former president Trump's enduring legacy. It's the reason why his ban from all social media is a massive blow to his power and sway. Trump wielded social media like a toddler with a crayon and a wall as their canvas. He wanted to grab your attention, but before you could clean up one mess of crayon art, there was another and another and another.
With just his thumbs, Trump could create a scene that would grab your attention until his next tweetstorm. While we have yet to see a true successor to Trump's Twitter prowess, creating scenes to grab attention has become the go-to for many. Take the example Garber uses — Representatives Majorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert from the State of the Union. She writes, "Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, of Georgia, repeatedly attempted to wrest attention from the president as his speech went on. The two began by pointedly turning their backs on the president's cabinet as they entered the chamber, allowing Boebert to display the writing on her shawl: "Drill Baby Drill." As Biden talked about immigration, the two began chanting: "Build—the—wall." The Washington Post reported that they spent the rest of the speech laughing at some lines and live-tweeting their animosity toward others."
What was the point of these outbursts? It certainly was not to change minds; the end goal was to cause a scene. To grab the attention of political foes and allies alike. There is as much value to Greene and Boebert's antics as Pelosi tearing up Trump's speech after his 2020 State of the Union address. It's purely for show, meant to score points with allies and keep foes distracted.
And this is the real problem with scene-making. It distracts from actual issues. We cannot allow ourselves to be tossed about by every wind of Twitter trending topics. Bringing real change requires the kind of undivided attention and dedication our current political climate is not suited for. As Garber rightly points out, "Our many crises will not be undone quickly or easily. They might not be undone at all. But the first step toward solving them is to acknowledge them as emergencies. The next is to give them the undivided focus that emergencies deserve."
4 More Things
Writing for The Gospel Coalition, Patrick Miller has a great, common sense guide for how to avoid misinformation and disinformation online. While he is writing primarily for Christians, his point about loving truth enough to seek it out is vital for all people—especially given that we are bombarded with so much new information every day.
The BBC is reporting on how Ukrainians are trying and failing to convince their Russian relatives of the reality of the situation in Ukraine. Russia's state government, and TV, are so tightly controlling the news that parents do not even believe their children. Children like Oleksandra, who the BBC quote, "My parents understand that some military action is happening here. But they say: 'Russians came to liberate you. They won't ruin anything, they won't touch you. They're only targeting military bases'."
While we might expect the above story from Russia, Christians in America are also spreading conspiracies that Russia is not the aggressor in this war. According to the Roys Report, Brent Caddell, pastor of Pearl Street Church in San Antonio, TX, told his congregation that he is "99% certain that Russia is not invading Ukraine." Pearl Street has removed the sermon video with this "prophetic" word from their site and backed off the comment. Caddell is not alone in spreading baseless conspiracies as Pat Robertson came out of retirement last week to say that God is compelling Putin to invade Ukraine as a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy.
Psypost has eye-opening reporting on Trump supporter views of the Covid-19 vaccine. The study found that Trump supporters are more likely to trust a conservative politician endorsing the vaccine than scientific evidence or doctors. Trump supporters who watched a video of Trump supporting the vaccine were less likely to say they would not get the vaccine than those who saw a video of a doctor endorsing the vaccine or no video at all. Caveats apply, but the study offers insight into a potential path forward for getting those skeptical of all things Covid-19 to take this pandemic seriously.