Every election cycle sees certain patterns repeated time and again, all for the purpose of evoking certain responses out of people or specific people groups. It’s not rocket science, in fact, it’s the most basic of psychological principles. If people perceive a threat to their personal or their family’s safety and well-being they either have a “fight or flight” response. They will either stand their ground, dig in to their position and fight in the direction they are going OR they will shelter, flee and hide. What this means for elections is that those people who’s response is “flight” will not show up on voting day leading to lower turnout and skewing the election in a specific way.
History Repeats Itself…
Throughout world history, the rise and fall of governments and individual leaders have been tied to how people perceive their safety and the health of their families. Note how the rise (or perceived rise) of specific epidemics and outbreaks correlate to major elections and political pivot points through history. Even looking at the last 100 years in the United States shows this. The Presidential Election of 1952, resulting in Dwight D. Eisenhower as President and Richard Nixon as Vice President, was at the peak of the Polio Epidemic which “created frenzy, frightening parents and prohibiting travel from city to city within the United States. Some towns were quarantined to protect the public from affected individuals,” according to Healthline. Then, in a matter of months a vaccine was discovered and this disease was on it’s way to eradication. A similar description of the Zika Virus might not be far off based on current depictions by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The elections of the 1980’s and 1990’s saw the rise of the AIDS Epidemic and multiple versions of Avian Flu outbreaks ultimately leading to the declaration of a worldwide pandemic. Fast forward to 2014 and the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa. By October of that mid-term election year there were suddenly a few, albeit isolated, cases on U.S. soil and that is all it took to have an affect on the November elections. Then, even before those elected politicians were sworn in to office, the Ebola threat was gone, just as had happened every other time before.
Who Pulls The Strings And Why?
We need to ask some hard questions here. How can this happen? It’s difficult, if not impossible, to assign blame to a single person or group for one of these viral or bacterial outbreaks (especially without hard proof). It is heart breaking to see the affects of these diseases that cost people their lives or destroy their quality of life. How can this happen in this day and age of medical and technological advancements? But those are not the questions we need to be asking.
These diseases and virus’ are rarely new. The question we need to ask is ‘Why now?’ Why are the talking heads in the media focusing on this now? Why are we hearing so much about a given epidemic at this particular time? What will our fear of contracting this current virus make us do…or NOT do in the near future? Why is the media focusing so much on this outbreak at this particular time? And not just in 2016, we need to ask these questions every time this happens!
Zika Is Coming! What Does This Mean For 2016?
Just like we learned from Chicken Little’s proclamations that the sky was falling, we need to be cautious of letting the fear that the news and political strategists would have us believe drive our actions one way or the other. What does this mean for the 2016 Election? It means that the perception is going to get worse…and then by January it will be gone.
Mark my words, in October 2016 nearly every news headline will feed the impending threat you feel. We will all feel the pull to either ‘fight’ or ‘flight’ in the hopes of some that we will react one way or the other as Tuesday, November 8th draws near. Then, suddenly, things will start to subside–regardless of who is elected.
If you’re like me and you’re tired of getting yanked around…tired of being treated like a pawn by the media and politicians, then stop it. Let’s ask the hard questions and look beyond just what we’re being fed to the timing and real motivations of those who would manipulate us.
Photo: Agressti Vanessa via Flickr