South Africa’s current polarised political environment is in large part due to the divisive nature of social media which is compounded by its politicians, according to Richard Mulholland, author and public speaker. 

“We live in a world where our ideals have been sold to us in a buy-one-get-the-rest-free bundle and it’s dividing us,” shared Mulholland. 

“Our opinions have been monopolised and this has us divided by seemingly weird, incongruent issues.”

Mulholland shared an anecdote on the hypocrisy of the views on social media and questioned its logic. 

“Why is that if you have this group of people who are vehemently anti-abortion? They are fist in the air, complaining about this — we know why because it kills children — but they have no problem with teenagers buying AR-15s.

Author and public speaker Richard Mulholland speaks at Daily Maverick’s The Gathering in Cape Town, 24 November 2022. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

“How can it possibly be logical that your point of view on issues such as climate change — whatever it may be — directly correlates with your views on the Black Lives Matter movement? It isn’t logical.”

Social media has also given rise to its users being concerned about how they are perceived by others and whether they fit in with popular opinion and not what the crux of the issue is, according to Mulholland.

“At least it isn’t logical if you think that your political views are your own but it absolutely is logical if you understand that your political views are less about how you see the world and more about how you want to be seen in it.

“Once you buy into this group identity, you’re more susceptible to just receiving their ideas and there’s a problem with that. Psychologists refer to this as motivated reasoning and while there is reasoning, it is far from reasonable.”

Politics’ role

Political parties focus on the points of difference between constituents in order to obtain cheap votes which further divides individuals, Mulholland went on to say.

“The things that are important to us are being hijacked as points of differentiation by political hopefuls looking for a snappy campaign slogan. And it’s easier to do than ever before because of social media.

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“Social media makes it absolutely easy… media’s job is to divide and conquer,” he said, adding, “our anger has been monetised.”

The media industry is also to blame, using the division perpetuated by politicians to help improve their bottom line, according to Mulholland. 

“Delivering measured news is at the very bottom of an extremely long list of priorities for [the media].”

“We’re not as polarised as the world thinks we are. The world according to social media makes us look like we have completely different issues. But if you step into the real world — at a picnic or a braai — you realise that actually what we all have is shared values.

“It’s only when you find a common place with people that are you able to pursue an argument.”

Importing views

The US carries popular views of the world on social media. These views are adopted without critical inspection or nuance onto South Africa’s political landscape by South African media and social media users.

“Most South Africans I see online are very happy to import their values and views wholesale from the United States. I often see more people caring about what happens in the United States than what happens in our very country and I think it’s wrong,” said Mulholland.

“Our values have been weaponised and they’re being used against us on a day-to-day basis. We are being armed and sent in with these values as canon fodder into this age-old battle for power.”

The lack of political nuance and knowledge by citizens allows for the divide between political groups to be exacerbated by politicians.

“When it comes to their politics, the average citizen, it turns out, isn’t that smart and this makes really easy prey for the smart conversationalist to go out there and control the narrative.

“There’s very little more powerful — in the war for human attention — than a sharply created rhetoric delivered by a skilled conversationalist.”

Richard Mulholland at Daily Maverick’s The Gathering in Cape Town, 24 November 2022. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)

However, there is an opportunity for citizens to make a change by being aware of the forced divide by the powers that be and turning away from it and instead turning towards what unites us, according to Mulholland.

“Our opinions have been monopolised, our anger has been monetised and our values have been weaponised,” he said. “We’re in a dark space but we don’t have to stay there. It turns out we can flick the switch… but we have to take control of the narrative. 

“To hell with the legacy-filled, political ideals that are forcing you to play a manipulative game with us in order to make the changes you want to make.

“It has to start with us and we can only do this if we start to replace our daily dose of doom scrolling with other, more algorithmically agnostic forms of information. Things like history and philosophy books would be a good place to start. 

“It is time for us to reclaim our opinions from the algorithms that are using them against us. It is time for us to reclaim our values from the powermongers that are using them to divide us and most of all it is time for us to reclaim our anger because it would be far better directed elsewhere.” DM