Normalcy Bias Will Be the Death of Us
Not figuratively, very literally.
A long while back I started watching the Handmaid’s Tale show.
I’m a big fan of the novel, being a big fan of Margaret Atwood’s writing style. Given that I’d been paying attention to current events, morbid curiosity and a desire for catharsis led me to tuning in for the first season to see how the showmakers managed to translate it onto the screen.
It was every bit as horrifying and dread-inducing as I expected.
The scene that sticks with me to this day is one that you probably wouldn’t expect.
It isn’t the violence or the day-to-day expressions of an authoritarian state. It isn’t the daily struggle for survival that Offred experiences. It isn't the moment where she and Ofglen have to duck their heads and walk on, petrified with terror as a black van full of men pulls up—praying that they’re not the ones about to be black-bagged and taken gods-know-where.
No, those aren’t the scenes that live rent free in my head, as awful as they are.
Nor is it the series of flashbacks to the pre-Gilead America, the little crumbles and rumbles of rising fascism before the coup. It isn’t the lines of protestors outside of the hospitals, or the brutal police crackdown. It isn’t the coffee shop employee shaming two women for wearing revealing clothing in public on their daily jog.
The moment that sticks out to me is a scene where Aunt Lydia describes the situation the newly minted Handmaids are in. It’s a conversation straight out of the book.
“Ordinary, said Aunt Lydia, is what you are used to. This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary.”
Aunt Lydia is right. And it’s this fact that could be the death of all of us.
Self-delusion and denial is a human superpower. We are infinitely adaptable as a species, and we are capable of making do and powering through unbelievable hardship.
We have a knack for putting our heads down, convincing ourselves that tough times are ‘just how the world is’ and that struggle builds character.
That’s not to say that we don’t have a breaking point; of course we do. Everyone has a limit for the kind of treatment we’re willing to put up with and a pain threshhold for what we’re willing to endure.
But on the whole, we tend to go with the river’s flow even when the rapids get rough.
This is the phenomenon I described in my article about Manufactured Consent. It’s the frog in the slowly boiling pot of water. If the temperature rises slowly, and the frog doesn’t notice, it will boil alive before it ever sees the danger.
In that article, I proposed that if the frog were allowed to see the thermometer, if it were informed and aware of its situation, it would likely choose to leap out of the water.
The thing is, that’s not always true. We’re seeing it around us right now.
No matter how many times I—and others like me— talk about the rising fascism in the United States, what the future could hold and why it’s important that we stop it now, there will always be people who refuse to listen.
They’ll hear our words, then inform us that we’re wrong and everything is actually fine.
In two years, there will be a midterm election and the Republicans will lose a lot of their momentum. In four years, Trump will be out of office and unable to run again, and everything will go back to how it was.
The idea that there might not be a free and fair election ever again is unthinkable.
Impossible. It isn’t worth even entertaining such a silly idea. We’re just being alarmist.
This is a phenomenon called ‘Normalcy Bias.’ It’s a little mental trick our brains pull. It tells us to ignore threats in the distance that are too ‘big’ to be faced. If it’s too unfamiliar, too outside the norm, then it’s hard for us to grasp and internalize it.
It’s easier to do nothing. It’s easier not to resist.
Hurricane warning? Eh, it probably won’t land where your house is; no reason to flee. People make a big deal out of regular storms and nothing ever happens! This will totally blow over.
And then you find out the hard way that you were dead wrong.
Coming to terms with the rise of a dictator in the United States of America is too ‘big’ for some people. Just like the concept of Climate Change is too ‘big.’ That kind of change is just too extreme, too ‘out there.’ We must be overreacting and making a big deal out of a nothingburger.
It’s easier to brush it off and focus your attention on daily life than come to terms with a threat you don’t know how to fight.
In the face of the kind of fear that paralyzes you, stops you in your tracks and turns your limbs to lead, you lose the capability to go on. You freeze.
In order to keep moving, you just don’t face it. You turn your back to it and put your mind towards simpler things. You focus on getting through the day, even as it gets harder and harder.
Eventually, it becomes ordinary. Things you wouldn’t have accepted a year ago become normal.
Expected.
Acceptable.
And that’s when we’re absolutely screwed.
We should not accept this, because acceptance grants allowance. If you don’t push back, you become an enabler. You become complicit by molding yourself to fit the terms they set, instead of demanding better, saner leadership.
Don’t kid yourself; when you give fascists an inch, they’ll shoot you and claim the mile. I made a similar quip in an older article about how the Nazis targeted Transgender people, and I stand by it.
You can’t get through this by ignoring it. By the time it becomes unbearable, it’ll be too late. The only way to avoid that is to nip it in the bud. We’re a bit late for that—spring is here, and the infected buds are starting to unfurl. They’ll be blighted leaves before too long.
My suggestion is to get to work now, before the only way to stop the spread is to let the whole tree burn. The last thing anyone wants is to lose a great nation to authoritarianism.
So protest. Speak out. Build networks of mutual aid and get to know your neighbours. Help each other and support each other and learn how to resist. Become resilient. Educate yourself and learn how to spot the danger, and how best to react.
Ordinary is what you’re used to. So, don’t let yourself become used to this.
Solidarity wins.
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I think the fact that there's a new "shock" set of headlines every day expedites the crazy stuff becoming normalized. Mainstream media is complicit, in my opinion.
There is now a growing movement starting up to protest all of this. I just read the latest from Dispatches from a Collapsing State, and he was pretty spot on. All of these rallies by Sanders and AOC are fine for ginning up the angst but, there is no pointed mission objective other than to stir people up. If we're going to stand up to this we have to do more. I'm looking for other ways to be more active to fight this obvious coup taking place in plain site, beyond my weekly podcast. I'm also seeking places outside the U.S. I can escape to, if the need should arise. With my wife being an immigrant, and myself nearly so, I'm worried about our future safety if things get too out of control.