Real People

The Left and the Right have two competing narratives for the recent town hall protests. The Right says this is an organic uprising, based on popular opposition to health care reform and Obama in general. The Left says it's astroturfing, a small group of people manipulated by Republican insiders. And of course both sides are comparing the other to Hitler and Stalin. How do we tell who's right? And does it even matter?

In a sense, the truth doesn't really matter. These protests are an example of speech which has no intent to convince. The protesters aren't there to actually debate health care. They shout down and interrupt the Representatives when they try to speak. Their point is not to bring anyone to their side that wasn't there already, but to make a dramatic point to outside observers. The union counter-protesters that have recently been deployed are doing much the same thing.

This is a battle for perception. Specifically, the perception of whether these protesters are, as a recent commenter put it, "real people." Humans use short-cuts in making decisions and forming opinions. One of the most important of those short-cuts is to ask, "What are people like me doing?" Note that it's not simply, "What are other people doing?" -- people take cues from others when they identify as being from the same group. Those from an out-group do not have nearly as much influence.

Thus the debate in the political sphere is about whether these protesters are Real People or Corporate Tools. Except there, too, no one is really trying to convince anyone from the other side. Each side will watch their own cable channels and read their own blogs, and they'll believe the narrative on their own side. The only people who won't be biased are those who don't particularly care. People who are only vaguely aware of politics, and catch a few seconds of CNN between VH1 and ET.

So why even try? For one thing, despite the polarization of the media over the past 2 decades, there are still "neutral" arbiters whose frames influence everyone. For another, there are limits to cognitive dissonance. A sufficiently resonant event could re-frame the terms of the debate.

Here's a devious and underhanded trick the Left could use. Writing this out makes me feel a little dirty. I offer this merely as an example of how this debate might be re-framed, and do not recommend its actual use. Get a group of 5-10 well-dressed, clean-cut white guys. Spread out among the crowd like the rest of the protesters. Lead the crowd in chants. Start easy -- "USA USA USA" or "Read the bill!" Then work up to unprintably racist slogans. When the crowd follows, and it's recorded on dozens of amateur videos, the moment will be captured and replayed for millions. And those watching at home will believe that the Tea Partiers are not Real People, but mean-spirited racists.

Developing a comparably underhanded tactic for the Right I leave as an exercise for the reader.