Joe Biden: President of the Multiverse
The President-elect Faces a Nation Divided by Conflicting Realities
As a connoisseur of comic books and science fiction, I’m well versed in the concept of parallel dimensions and alternative realities. Cross the dimensional divide and you’ll find an evil Captain Kirk, a homicidal Superman, or a Spiderpig rather than Spiderman.
Over the last dozen years or so — and particularly the last four — the concept of multiple realities seems dangerously real. In an era of balkanized media, conspiracy theories, and rejection of science, planet Earth has become a virtual multiverse. As a species, we live in different plains of existence, each with its own version of truth, legitimacy, and morality.
In one of these co-existing dimensions, health experts are covering up the link between vaccines and autism. In another world, the intrepid Donald Trump secretly battles a pedophilic ring of Democrat politicians and Hollywood stars. And in another, the George W. Bush Administration orchestrated the 9/11 terrorist attacks to justify war in the Middle East.
The 2020 presidential election has thrust these alternative worlds into a critical clash. In one universe, Joe Biden is the unquestionable victor. In another, a rigged election denied President Trump the second term he truly earned.
Biden says he wants to be a president for all Americans. But that would require him to be a president of all realities. Serving people with different political ideologies has always been a daunting task, but ideology has descended into “alternative facts” and outrageous conspiracy theories that have left us unable to have reasonable disagreements. Our varied world views have become varied worlds — period.
Heroes in one universe are villains in another. On Earth 1, Barack Obama is an inspirational leader who inspires our better angels. On Earth 2, he is a radical Muslim who has decimated the United States with socialized medicine and green-energy incentives. On Earth 1, Trump has nearly destroyed our democracy. On Earth 3, he’s protecting us from the violent antifa and draconian scientists.
These worlds don’t comfortably co-exist, but Biden has to lead all of them. In his November 7 victory speech, he called on Americans to “listen to each other again” and “to stop treating our opponents as our enemies.” I sincerely want to answer that call. But I don’t know how to start a conversation with someone who resides in a world where climate change is a hoax, antifa is a terrorist group, and mask requirements at stores and restaurants are not safety measures but civil rights violations. By the same token, I can’t expect a reasonable conservative to cross the dimensional divide to hear that all Trump voters are idiots and that 9–11 was an inside job.
As the worlds of Rudy Guliani and the Trump family collide with the facts, Biden will enter office with a substantial portion of the population viewing him as an illegitimate leader. This poses lethal consequences. Biden’s effort to set a national pandemic policy could face severe resistance from people who hang on Trump’s every word. And Trump is likely to undermine a Biden plan by continuing his Twitter propaganda against scientists, Democrats, and the media. Thus, his followers will find more and more reasons to eschew masks and social distancing, allowing the virus to continue its destructive spread.
Countering the falsehoods that pour out of social media, Alex Jones, and the White House itself is a daunting battle. People encode falsehoods into memory — even after they’re presented with the truth — because it’s easier than critically evaluating that information we’re bombarded with every day, psychologists have found.
This truth crisis recently led 22 researchers to produce the Debunking Handbook 2020, a consensus document that proposes a variety of strategies to neutralize disinformation. These tactics involve more than just identifying information as false, but repeating pithy factual alternatives free of scientific jargon. In essence, the truth sticks in our minds when it’s presented clearly and repeatedly.
But the debunkers face some loud foes. The truth is easily drowned out in worlds where children are held prisoner in pizzeria basements, Covid-19 is a Big Pharma plot, and Donald Trump deserves a second term.
