Overcoming Political Illiteracy: Reframing November
Image Description: A sketch of Donald Trump on top of newspaper clippings; above him are exclamation marks. Three people behind books surround him.
In the days following the election, I struggled, like the bitter socialist I am, to find the right way to handle the sheer disappointment and utter shock coming from the largely progressive UCLA student population around me. My political views have placed me into a perpetual state of eye-rolling and “I told you so”s, as I see hopeful college students disappointed by the Democratic Party over and over again. Given the alarming actions of the Trump administration thus far, I’ve found myself, at times, in a state of disbelief — yet, running in leftist circles has left me feeling prepared for this American reality. Who runs in elections and who the American people vote for reflects the work of centuries of propaganda, policies, and governing politics. It is no accident that the Democratic and Republican parties, placed in paramount opposition to each other, are both right-wing (moderate, if I’m being generous) pro-capitalist political organizations. We have, at most, a facade of political diversity in mainstream American politics, and decades of red-scare propaganda, capitalist propaganda, and the demonization of non-white and immigrant communities inform how people vote. White evangelical working class Americans are a prime example of the consequences of such indoctrination — these groups represent half of white working class Americans and voted predominantly (86%) for Trump, following a frustratingly long-standing pattern of bootlicking. Political elections are not the races to the finish they are represented as in the media, but instead reflections of this centuries-old propaganda.
The collective shock at UCLA and in liberal spaces failed to recognize that the academia-centered illusion we live in is incomparable to American reality. American politics are deluded by arguments over trans children in sports, the inclusion of “critical race theory” in schools, and the so-called “success” of trickle-down economics for the working class. If we can recognize how patriotic-prone legacy news, other media, and even history textbooks are, then we can understand how this skew escapes many Americans’ points of view. “Politically aware” college students see and point out the hypocrisy and corruption of American media, but can fail to connect it to how this impacts the American people and their voting patterns. On November 6th, when the election was called, there was no mystical reveal about the true feelings or desires of the American people. By paying attention to historical context, to how stories are told in mainstream media, and to the rhetoric that fills political conversations, it is easier to fathom why people voted as they did. Through this understanding, there is an evident silver lining — that people were brainwashed to think this way, which, however challenging it may be, opens up American politics for radical change.
American propaganda is in every history textbook, news media, advertisements and entertainment, and every Star Spangled Banner sung and Pledge of Allegiance chanted. For those who recognize this propaganda, it sticks out like a sore thumb, from blatant lies to hypocritical side comments. Yet, the majority of people gloss over it, accepting it as true, despite this often being counter to our interests or values. Why? One clear, neglected reason is low literacy rates. 54% of American adults have a literacy below a sixth-grade level. Literacy is not a magical tool to spot propaganda, but it is an avenue to develop critical thinking skills, creating more comprehensive perspectives. Being able to ask the right questions is essential to understanding the world around us. With most of our media being written or broadcasted, critical thinking is a skill developed alongside high literacy levels. If 54% of American adults read below a sixth-grade level, then the majority of American adults can not easily comprehend most media. We must think critically about news from media outlets like the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, or even — god forbid — Fox News. Without comprehension, other skills like analyzing, cross-referencing, and questioning are far out of the question. The American public may be technically able to read, but for the purpose of accurately understanding political corruption, we are functionally illiterate.
America’s politics are not this way because Americans are “dumb” or because groups of Americans are “just stupid and uneducated,” as I hear people state in their conversations with friends or see people post on their Instagram stories. Instead, these politics reflect the capitalist class and American politicians disarming the American public of the skill of critical thinking in order to disenfranchise the working class. And as we have seen in the most recent election, but also for centuries of politics, it works.
Common in voting rhetoric is the suggestion of an association between having a college degree and voting blue. The statistics seem to speak for themselves: in key states in the 2024 election, 56% of those with a college degree voted for Harris, while 43% without a college degree voted for her. However, drawing a correlation between college education and the liberalizing of Americans is an ignorant oversight of racial differences within America: Black, Latine, and other voters of color have similar voting demographics regardless of educational background. For white people, the difference is over twenty percentage points. Fifty eight percent of college-educated white women voted for Harris/Walz, while only 35% of white women without college education voted for Harris/Walz. Forty eight percent of college-educated white men voted for Harris/Walz, but just 29% without a college education voted for Harris/Walz. The differences are almost implausible. These statistics reveal how easily propaganda is weaponized within white working class communities, and how susceptible the white working class is to this deception. Class-based oppression is deceptive and easily disguised — throughout American history and to this day, queer people, people of color, and immigrant are used as scapegoats for the problems that capitalists cause, whether that be unemployment, low wages, lack of affordable housing, or any other issue caused by a capitalist economy. Through this weaponization, the oppression of people of color and queer people intersects with class, but it also is more evident, outright, and less acceptable in intrapersonal experience. The white working class is extremely susceptible to anti-immigrant and anti-Black propaganda — because they have the privilege to do so, even though in doing so they often vote against their own interest. Other racial groups experience institutional and interpersonal racism, alongside hearing racist rhetoric spewed from the mouths of fear-mongering politicians. Communities of color feel the consequences of rhetoric calling Black people “looters,” immigrants “criminals and rapists,” and referring to Middle Eastern people as “terrorists.” White communities largely, however, succumb to this fear-mongering, perpetuate this racism, and vote for whoever is best comforting their fears. Reconciling the physical and social harm of this language with understanding how white working class communities are victims to propaganda is immensely difficult. It is ostensibly clear, then, that education, literacy, and critical thinking skills become even more important in these instances.
The other part of literacy, beyond voting against one’s own interest, is the political literacy of oppression. The American regime uses literacy to disarm marginalized groups of people of the ability to understand institutional and systemic oppression. Though queer people, people of color, and other marginalized groups do not necessarily vote differently based on their education level or socioeconomic class, literacy is an evident form of autonomy. Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous students show lower levels of literacy than other groups. Literacy is not the only tool for liberation, but it is a powerful one. Literacy and critical thinking allow marginalized groups to organize and look beyond the two-party system. Literacy is about autonomy, and when literacy rates drop, this takes away control from the individual to understand the world they live in beyond lived experience and the lip service of politicians, and to align their own lived experiences with institutions and larger systems. For BIPOC communities, queer communities, and disabled communities who are the target of fear-mongering and discriminatory policies, a lack of literacy represents violent repression by the State.
Literacy rates and critical thinking can distill some confusion regarding the election and give a starting place for change, but they hardly offer a foundation for revolutionary optimism. America is polarized, even within the constraining political system we have. Yet, focusing on what we have in common is exceedingly more grounding than languishing in the “incompetence” of the American public. American politics is too entrenched in propaganda to be anything more than a summation of disillusionment, with the rare political radicalization through recognition of oppression. Behind misdirected anger, misunderstood values, and propaganda-filled legacy media are universal values that we can find common ground on. First, making American economic realities less burdensome for the working class. People want to be able to live, to afford fulfilling food, shelter, and clothing. People don’t want to worry about their healthcare, education, or employment. The election further proved that most Americans have been tricked into believing that the Republican Party will fix these problems, though both parties have little interest in helping the working class, insofar as it inhibits the growth of lobbying corporations or their own profitable ventures. But, I digress — fundamentally, most Americans have the spirit to help the working class, though they may be a bit confused about how to get there.
Another shared value, and the one that truly motivates me, is shared kindness and empathy, though it may feel transient. Our world can be violent and full of hate, and hate is dangerous and should not be overlooked. But we can understand that hate is learned, and it is, for most people, misdirected and not all-encompassing. Even the most bigoted and hateful people have love abound in their lives. Need you empathize with them? No. But you have to understand that humans, even the horrible ones, are capable of love, and the conflict, hate, and violence we see are largely manufactured, not natural. Assuming that often racial, gender, and class-based violence is inevitable only reinforces the evil systems that have become omnipresent in our lives. Seeing hate as learned allows us to understand capitalism is not inevitable and we do not need violent state institutions enforcing the American state’s capitalist interests, under the guise that they are keeping us safe from ourselves. Seeing hate as learned and love as universal is, above all else, a radical form of resistance.
I call myself a bitter socialist, but in principle, my political views are quite the opposite of bitter. I have seen the ability of almost all people to express kindness and love. I see this potential extinguished by a brutal capitalist world, and this makes me believe there is a better system that can foster better people. I see humanity’s urge to love, create, and be in community with each other. What drives us apart is the work of centuries of propaganda and distraction, and perpetually being set in opposition to each other when we are not each other’s enemies.
For socialists, anti-capitalists, or whatever ideology you claim, raising literacy rates should be seen as a powerful tool to create a movement, especially for people who are directly victimized by capitalism — the working class, immigrants, Black and Indigenous people, disabled people, etc. It is also a tangible step that is agreeable for essentially all who live in this country. Whether people support particular funding or policies may be up for debate, but high literacy rates are universally supported. High literacy rates are the foundation for critical thinking skills, which are a fundamental tool for liberation. We need to critically analyze the world around us. We need to know what questions to ask when reading a news article. We need to understand what is unspoken and implied in the language we hear, use, and read. Without this, we are often unprotected from the propaganda that tricks us into the capitalist “two-party” political system we have in place. We become divided and distracted and we make it easy for politicians and the media to neglect our true problems — inadequate healthcare, expensive cost of living, systemic violence. Literacy would not fix this, but developing critical thinking would give an essential tool to the working class, and it would make the 2024 election seem just as impossible an outcome as so many of the people around me thought it to be.
