How Online Radicalization is Destabilizing Democracy

Can Democracy Survive Digital Destabilization?

A few years ago, I noticed a striking change. People — friends, colleagues, readers, family, mentors — seemed to suddenly somehow believe strange, improbable, fabulously foolish things.

“But the EU’s a colossal failure!”, they’d cry — while in fact, the EU was (and is) humanity’s most successful democracy ever, period, the one with the highest quality of life in history, I’d gently try to remind them. “But immigrants are taking our jobs!! They’re useless, lazy, and a burden!!”, and then I’d try to explain that the reverse is true — immigration creates economic activity, and jobs are going because of a lack of investment. “But we’re broke!! We don’t have the money to spend on healthcare and education!!”, while in fact interest rates are zero, meaning we have something like infinite free money right about now.

I could go on. But when I replied to them, they stopped replying to me, like a wave of silence falling over my world. Their eyes just glassed over. Creepily, weirdly. Nothing was going in — and nothing was coming out. It was as if their minds had stopped working. There was just a furious, doleful pout, like I’d stolen their candy. It reminded me of an infant. They’d regressed back to their little selves. A scalpel no one…