Can We Stop The Information Revolution From Fading Into Oblivion?

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We are living amid a revolution the likes of which human history has ever seen before. But is it a revolution that is churning in the right direction?

Political Journalist and host of CNN’s GPS, Fareed Zakaria, says not so much. But what makes Fareed’s commentary regarding our backslide into backward ideology and the adoption of identity politics so compelling? Well, for starters, Fareed has had his finger on the pulse of all things politico in America since the early 90s and has a clairvoyance of sorts when talking about foreign and domestic policy changes, economic trends, and power struggles in every sense of the word.

Mr. Zakaria is a political touchpoint in our country because he is beloved for his honesty and undeniable wisdom. He also looks at the world with a glass-half-full perspective rather than following the familiar narratives proclaiming that the world is falling apart.

The Tumbling of the Wall

I recently heard Fareed Zakaria on a podcast. The conversation was quite profound, and it opened my eyes to many things that have to do with our foreign policy, the ongoing fighting on the East Bank, and the current state of the domestic economic and political fronts here at home.

But what stood out to me the most was Zakaria’s take on the wheels of progress that began turning as the Berlin Wall fell to the ground in the late 80s, giving rise to the promise of a democratic and fair government to take the place of the communist iron fist that had a stranglehold on much of Eastern Europe up until that point.

When the wall came tumbling down, a new dawn of relaxed international trade between many places that had been cut off from the outside world for generations, the birth of the internet and the technological revolution hot on its heels, and the beginning of the cultural mingling that had been missing throughout the entirety of the Cold War had begun.

The floodgates had opened and would be flowing in the direction of progress, mutual understanding, and the birth of open lines of communication to share bold and transformative ideas were all very much here to stay. With tourism, fair trade, and the opportunity for countries historically closed off to the outside world, they can experience economic growth and prosperity, fair elections, and the ousting of autocracy.

Throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s, there was immense economic growth across the board as India and Japan began trading commodities and natural resources, contributing to the financial wealth and prosperity built across the globe. During this boom in international trade and the new way we interacted with these foreign places regarding policy and treaties, it was an era that left many feeling like anything was possible as we moved further into the 21st Century.

The Gates Begin to Close

It would not be meant to last; as Zakaria points out in his new book Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present, he defines our current historical point as one of the most transformative to ever unfold. But he fears that it is heading in the wrong direction.

He warns his readers of the perils that await us if we continue down a road of closed-minded rhetoric and begin to justify that narrative through the lens of identity politics. In place of the liberalization and Enlightenment through progressive movements, he candidly shares his thoughts on the sadness and what he refers to as a “democratic recession” with these same areas that had once opened their borders to travelers and international trade, were sadly now turning back to introverted policy changes and as Zakaria calls is “protectionism.”

But why have we begun to see so much backlash in the wake of all this openness and freedom that brought so much hope and promise to a global economy and the spread of the democratic way of life?

There is no blanket answer to this question; however, according to Fareed, some good indicators point us in this general direction.

And one of these factors is the rise of identity politics. As I mentioned earlier, the conversation I caught on this particular day was from a Freakonomics podcast. Please listen to this podcast, which, if you have not listened to it before, is a great one! But this podcast episode was incredibly informative, and from the first minute, I was captivated by the incredible way this conversation unfolded, hence why I am writing this article now.

Meaningful Excepts

But, getting back on track here, the idea that identity politics has played such an impactful role globally that we have seen this backlash regarding the information revolution is most interesting. The following is an excerpt from this conversation that I would like to share with you now.

DUBNER: You say, “I don’t like identity politics.” I think that’s one of the reasons I like your commentary so much because what’s at the core is the actual politics, economics, social movements, etc. But that said, much of the political and social discourse in this country and elsewhere these days is really rooted in identity politics, and I’d like to hear your comment on how costly you think that may be. 

ZAKARIA: I think it comes from a good place in some cases, and comes from a sense that people’s experiences and the history of certain communities had not been adequately looked at and analyzed and honored. And I get all that. But I think it’s fundamentally illiberal. Because it is fundamentally saying, “I have this identity and that identity trumps everything else, so you can’t understand what I’m saying.” And I think that if you make that argument, you’re essentially making an argument against knowledge, and certainly against the Enlightenment project. The whole point is that we can all live together because I can understand your circumstances and we can come up with solutions and policies and legislation that allow us to benefit each other and the whole. The whole point of great literature is that you have the ability to understand other people. You know, Shakespeare was not Danish, yet he wrote a play about a Danish prince. I think the whole idea that you cannot understand me because your skin color is different or because your parents took you to a different house of worship when you were young — it doesn’t, to my mind, recognize that the whole point, certainly since the Enlightenment, that we have been moving towards is the idea that we can all understand each other. 

Can We Live Together?

In the world of narrowing mindsets and an increasingly dangerous form of political affiliation, can we stop alienating one another and live together in harmony?

Do we still possess the power to stop the blockage and resume the free-flowing status we were once progressing within not so long ago. I believe we can, but it will not be at the hands of Trump taking possession of the White House once again, and certainly not if Putin wins his assault on Ukraine. We must collectively reject the isolationism that threatens to close the gates of our information revolution, burdening us with an overflow of the Us vs. Them mentality.

We must assemble under the blanket of genuine democracy and hope that our taste for freedom is far more palatable than that of blood lust and hatred for what is fundamentally different. To coexist and understand our differences, be it religious background, skin color, or social class, our goal must be to unify despite those differences and operate on the understanding that deep down, we are all human.

Our humanity will ultimately save us from a path leading to the closure of the gates and the dawn of a monopolistic and autocratic society just begging to be born from the ashes of our democratic society.