Democratic Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema recently went to use the restroom.
Nothing odd about that. Except, however, that an activist had different ideas. Said activist decided to harass Sinema as she walked from a university classroom to the restroom. The activist even followed the senator into the bathroom, shouting at her while she was using the facilities. Of course, the activist was filming the encounter the entire time, and the recording was shared countless times over social media.
Even though filming Sinema while she was using the bathroom may have opened up a new frontier in our political “discourse,” this is not the first time activists have invaded an opponent’s personal space. For years, activists — mostly left-wing, but right-wing as well — have been protesting outside the homes of public figures. There have been confrontations in restaurants and airports and grocery stores. Rep. Maxine Waters of California went so far as to encourage supporters to harass political opponents “in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station . . . and . . . tell them they’re not welcome.”
In short, the distinction between public space and private space has been destroyed. But why?
Technology and social media likely play a large role. First, social media tends to blur the distinction between what is public and what is private. Before social media, if someone wanted to show friends pictures from a vacation or how delicious their steak looked, they would have had to meet up in person. But now, social media users can blast to the world all of the things that used to be done only in private: vacations, meals, activities. For many users of social media, everything is part of the public space. It is anathema to them to contemplate private space at all.
Second, the ubiquity of cellphone cameras ensures that many of these nontraditional confrontations are captured on video. That makes the relevant acts performative as much as substantive. Accosting Sinema over immigration reform (something that is no longer even in the reconciliation bill!) might not do much to change her mind, but it definitely will show followers on social media that you are taking a bold stand. It will energize your ideological compatriots to keep fighting!
Third, and perhaps most troubling, social media conditions us to dehumanize our interactions with others. The more someone interacts with pixels on a screen rather than face-to-face with another person, the more easy it is to forget that it is a real person on the other side of the conversation. This, in turn, leads to more aggression, less empathy, and more inflammatory rhetoric. Do this enough in the digital world and it is bound to leak over into the real world.
Related to this is the general coarsening of our civic culture. That, of course, is fed by the dehumanizing effects of social media.
Someone who disagrees is no longer a neighbor and fellow congregant at church who just happens to hold different opinions. They become an avatar for one side of a political dispute. This is exacerbated by a host of other social developments, such as the “big sort,” where people live, work, and interact with more like-minded people and are less exposed to differing points of view (making someone’s reasonable disagreement on a policy issue that much more of an outlier).
Sadly, many people have replaced religion in their lives with politics. That can transform mere political disagreements — Where should we put this road? How much should we spend on Program A versus Program B? — into moral crusades. This leads more people to be more willing to do more extreme things, such as invading personal space in the bathroom.
The best way to address this social pathology is to reinforce the idea that there are private spaces where politics should not intrude. People of good faith on all sides should recognize this and condemn those who cross the line. Activists need to remember that the elected official you want to protest to is still a person. Don’t do anything to them that you would not want done to you, or an official with whom you agree. All of us have the right to a good night’s sleep, a good meal without being harassed, or simply using the bathroom without being filmed and yelled at.
Dr. Ben Carson is the founder and chairman of the American Cornerstone Institute.
