In the twenty-first century, the goal of the autocrat—or the aspiring autocrat—is not persuasion but exhaustion through saturation.
Outrage and crisis are big winners in today’s information economy. Politicians are quick to jump to the opportunity. Continuous connectivity enhanced by AI-generated rage algorithms, infectious bots, and digital provocateurs create an environment that showers the citizen in a relentless stream of crisis and catastrophe. The public mind is saturated, at the limit of (mis)information absorption.
A weary public, suffering in a paralysis of reason, is relentlessly conditioned to willingly accept—even welcome—authoritarian governance. Anything to stop the onslaught.
But the onslaught does not stop. It increases as authority melds into tyranny.
Democracy is not the default state of human governance. The innate fragility of democratic resilience requires that citizens live gracefully in a state of curiosity, systematic skepticism, and civil discourse. A vibrant democracy demands a vibrant citizenry.
It demands the kind of education that fosters systematic skepticism and abstract reasoning. The kind of learning environments that encourage deliberate, thoughtful consideration of data and evidence and information. Learning environments whose intent is deep learning.
Not learning environments predicated on efficiency and transactional outcomes. Instead, learning environments that reflect a slow, deliberate appreciation of human cognition and emotions.
It is a personal choice. It is a societal choice.
Be free, or be mindless.