The false dichotomy of mythologies that underlies political polarization

I recently came across Anne Applebaum’s 2018 article in the Atlantic, “A warning from Europe: The worst is yet to come,” in which she describes the politics in Poland as reminiscent of Viktor Orbán’s competitive authoritarian regime in Hungary, posing it in a false dichotomy with meritocratic, cosmopolitan, and capitalist “liberalism.”^[1] It’s not ideologically quite a match for white Christian nationalism, as indeed are not structurally similar regimes in Turkey and India, and as indeed would not be a similar regime which might arise in Italy^[2] and might have arisen in France.^[3]

The epistemology (the way that people ‘know’ what they claim to know) that lies behind these regimes is a conservative epistemology in that it privileges a narrative based not on empirical evidence^[4] and it resembles a white Christian nationalist epistemology in its reliance on conspiracy theories and particular religious interpretations. These regimes find support generally among uneducated working class and rural people who are suspicious of and resentful towards people of different races, ethnicities, and religions; migrants; people of non-conforming gender and sexual identities and orientations; and people of different political persuasions.

The Indian case shows that this not a white people-only problem. The Turkish case shows that this is not a Christian-only problem. But it draws sympathy for Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine from some U.S. white Christian nationalists.^[5] It is intolerant, a rejection of cosmopolitanism, and, in some places, increasingly willing to go to war.

In her article, Applebaum seems to understand political and economic competition as meritocratic^[6] rather than, as it in fact is, nepotistic and protective of the status quo.^[7] She sees the intolerant, anti-cosmopolitan movements that enable these regimes arising among people who feel treated unfairly by competition.^[8]

But for a pretense of fairness, competition itself relies ideologically on a mythological and implausibly level playing field.^[9] What we actually have more closely resembles a caste system. In the U.S., this very rigid class system^[10] is formally preserved by a constitutional oligarchy;^[11] something similar exists, whether formally or otherwise, in most of the world.

Applebaum’s false dichotomy is thus that 1) between, on one hand, a mythology grounded in conspiracy theories with a particular religious interpretation and, on the other, a mythology grounded in a hallucination of fair competition, and thus of conservative working class resentment toward everyone else; and 2) between intolerance on one hand and cosmopolitanism on the other, and thus, in a common example, of white Christian nationalist resentment toward everyone else. It is a curious thing, a thing I don’t fully understand, that even with disparate elements, this dichotomy is so neat and indeed, in the U.S., it overlaps with the polarization between Republicans as the former in each of those pairs and Democrats as the latter.

This brings to the fore that, in the U.S., both Republican and Democrats rely on conservative epistemology. Republicans choose conspiracy theories and a particular understanding of Christianity. Democrats choose neoliberalism. Neither reflect reality. Neither are solving the problem.

They won’t solve the problem elsewhere either. But Applebaum’s false dichotomy neatly fits the political paradigm predominating in much of the world. It needs to change. I am pessimistic that it can or will.

1. ^[1]Anne Applebaum, “A warning from Europe: The worst is yet to come,” Atlantic, October 2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/poland-polarization/568324/↩
2. ^[2]Archie Bland, “Italy’s political dysfunction opens the door to a far-right government,” Guardian, August 22, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/22/first-edition-giorgia-meloni-italy-election↩
3. ^[3]Arthur Goldhammer, “Yes, Be Worried: Marine Le Pen Could Finally Come to Power in France,” New Republic, April 7, 2022, https://newrepublic.com/article/166041/marine-le-pen-win-president-france-2022-elections↩
4. ^[4]David Benfell, “A theory of conservative epistemology,” Not Housebroken, August 19, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/08/06/a-theory-of-conservative-epistemology/↩
5. ^[5]Melani McAlister, “War in Ukraine is testing some American evangelicals’ support for Putin as a leader of conservative values,” Conversation, April 6, 2022, https://theconversation.com/war-in-ukraine-is-testing-some-american-evangelicals-support-for-putin-as-a-leader-of-conservative-values-180638↩
6. ^[6]Anne Applebaum, “A warning from Europe: The worst is yet to come,” Atlantic, October 2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/poland-polarization/568324/↩
7. ^[7]Christopher Hayes, Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy (New York: Crown, 2012); C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite (1956; repr., New York: Oxford University, 2000).↩
8. ^[8]Anne Applebaum, “A warning from Europe: The worst is yet to come,” Atlantic, October 2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/poland-polarization/568324/↩
9. ^[9]David Benfell, “Conservative Views on Undocumented Migration” (doctoral dissertation, Saybrook, 2016). ProQuest (1765416126).↩
10. ^[10]John Asimakopoulos, The Political Economy of the Spectacle and Postmodern Caste (Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2020); Peter W. Cookson, Jr., and Caroline Hodges Persell, “The Vital Link: Prep Schools and Higher Education,” in Great Divides, ed. Thomas M. Shapiro, 3rd ed. (New York: McGraw Hill, 2005), 380-391; G. William Domhoff, “The American Upper Class,” in Great Divides, ed. Thomas M. Shapiro, 3rd ed. (New York: McGraw Hill, 2005), 156-164; Christopher Hayes, Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy (New York: Crown, 2012); C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite (1956; repr., New York: Oxford University, 2000); Ralph H. Turner, “Sponsored and Contest Mobility and the School System,” in Great Divides, ed. Thomas M. Shapiro, 3rd ed. (New York: McGraw Hill, 2005), 71-76.↩
11. ^[11]David Benfell, “A constitutional oligarchy: Deconstructing Federalist No. 10,” Not Housebroken, July 3, 2021, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/04/22/a-constitutional-oligarchy-deconstructing-federalist-no-10/↩