Thread by @jeenasingh5

I’m immensely disturbed & saddened after hearing PM’s speech y’day. It was not unexpected but still the tone & tenor of it left me in pits of despair!

One could have shredded the speech for its many fallacious arguments. But those were so obvious anyways.

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Instead, what intrigues me is his audience. What is it that propels them to listen & cheer such incendiary spew?

While searching for some answers, came across this brilliant NY times article abt the exact same issue named ‘The Neuroscience of Hate Speech’ by Dr. Friedman.

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I was taken aback by the similarities & parallels between the current US & Indian psycho-socio-political atmospheres! He might as well be talking about us!

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Some key points to ponder which I culled almost verbatim from the article:

-His (Trump’s & similarly PM’s) rhetoric has been a powerful contributor to our climate of hate, which is amplified by the right-wing media & virulent online culture.

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Though it’s difficult to prove that incendiary speech is a direct cause of violent acts, but humans are social creatures — including and perhaps especially the unhinged and misfits among us — who are easily influenced by the rage that is everywhere these days.

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Psychology & neuroscience give us imp. insights into the power of powerful people’s words:

•Repeated exposure to hate speech increases prejudice. It also desensitizes individuals to verbal aggression, in part bcos it normalizes what is usually socially condemned behavior.

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•Threatening language can directly activate the amygdala. This makes it hard for people to dial down their emotions and think bfore they act.

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•You don’t have to be particularly unhinged to be moved to violence by incendiary rhetoric. Just about any of us could be susceptible under the right conditions.

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• Mina Cikara, a Harvard psychologist tells: when a group is put on the defensive and made to feel threatened, they begin to believe that anything, including violence, is justified.

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•According to Dr. Fiske: Both science and history suggest that people will nurture and act on their prejudices in the worst ways when these people are put under stress, pressured by peers, or receive approval from authority figures to do so.

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•So when someone like President Trump (or PM Modi) dehumanizes his adversaries, he could be putting them beyond the reach of empathy, stripping them of moral protection and making it easier to harm them.

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At the end, he asks the most pertinent question:

Now imagine what would happen if President Trump (or Prime Minister Modi) actually issued a call to arms to his supporters.

Scared? You should be.

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nytimes.com/2018/10/31/opi…