Blame social media for the state of democracy today

Chow Kum Hor says the bombardment of instant messaging is fanning our tendency to get carried away by emotions and reinforcing our biases, particularly in elections

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A supporter of US President-elect Donald Trump attends the Zionist Organisation of America annual dinner, in New York, on November 20. Photo: EPA

Published: 12:24pm, 23 Nov 2016Updated: 7:50pm, 23 Nov 2016

Democracy relies heavily on voters’ ability to discern the useful from the harmful. Sometimes, voters make the right choices, sometimes they make the wrong calls. Mostly, the decision at the ballot box is made in a calm, rational manner, although “likeability” or charisma of candidates may colour the voters’ choice. For most democratic countries, this form of governance has worked fairly well.

But this system is now facing a new threat: impulse voting, where facts and reasoning take a back seat to voters’ raw emotion and perception. Voters decide based on their gut feeling, often underpinned by seething anger at the political elite. That’s no different from making an investment call on a whim, rather than on fundamentals; in the long run, such decisions are going to be harmful.

And such irrational behaviour is what led to Donald Trump’s election as US president, and, earlier on, Brexit. In the US polls, Trump won by playing on the fears and insecurities of Americans, not through the appeal of well-articulated policies. In Brexit, voters’ concerns about immigration led the UK to vote to withdraw from the European Union. A referendum about the economy turned out to be one about xenophobia, fanned by racist undertones.

Migrants walk past graffiti that reads “London calling” as they leave the notorious “Calais jungle” migrant camp in northern France last month. French authorities have cleared out the camp that served as a launchpad for attempts to sneak into Britain. Concern about immigration led the UK to vote to withdraw from the EU. Photo: AFP

After Brexit, Hong Kong voters should take a careful look at what our own localist parties are really selling

How is it that the democratic system that we had held in such high esteem for centuries has become so flawed that people are wondering if it is still viable today?