What does one do with flocks of bloodthirsty sheep? — mauled pollster Frank Luntz says that he does not know

© 2021 Peter Free

 

22 January 2021

 

 

I share your pain, Frank

 

What follows is sociologically indicative.

 

The fact that it occurred via Zoom's internet video conferencing platform makes it perfect for our times:

 

 

[E]x-Republican pollster Frank Luntz held a focus group evenly split between Biden and Trump voters to see what connected.

 

The Zoom session was swiftly derailed by shouting, crosstalk, disputes over basic facts and even deeply personal attacks, such as one panelist mocking another for sharing his mother's death from COVID-19.

 

"I reached a point where I don't want to do this anymore."

 

"I couldn't control them. They just started yelling at each other, and it would take me two minutes to say to them, 'stop' — to put my hand up to the camera like I did right there for them to get control of themselves," Luntz said.

 

[T]he level of crosstalk made the conversation inaudible for large stretches.

 

Despite Biden's push for unity, Luntz said the appetite simply isn't there yet for many people in the US.

 

"They don't want to hear," Luntz said.

 

"They don't want to listen. They want to hear what they have to say."

 

© 2021 Jake Lahut, Ex-GOP pollster Frank Luntz says 'I don't want to do this anymore' after 'unity' themed focus group goes off the rails, Business Insider (21 January 2021)

 

 

Shouting to ourselves — to drown everyone else out

 

This phenomenon (that Luntz points to) is the "you're so special" parental mantra in action.

 

Narcissism — whether personal or via hyper-partisan political party — has triumphed.

 

Non-communication is what happens, when our cross-party shared disregard for facts and competent analysis eliminates the concepts of "community" and "critical thinking" everywhere.

 

 

The moral? — A raging descent into national idiocy

 

My prescription?

 

Civil war. Let's all try to kill each other.

 

After about four years of that horror, we might be able to muddle our way into an uneasy peace.

 

On the bright side, a second American civil war might keep faraway "foreign" peoples safe from us for a while. That would be a win-win by any rational global calculation.

 

Sigh.