Routine. Ordinary. Ritual. Since birth, we navigate the world with innate pattern recognition skills. When we find contrast, we feel drawn to that change. Born on Capitol Hill, we are living through a crack against the normal; a break against the ritual. In recent years, growing partisanship in the United States has devolved into a self-perpetuating cycle of vulgar, accusatory, and loud speech, feeding off the spectacle of politics perpetuated through the advent of social media.
Loud isn’t new. Vulgar, accusatory, and even cruel speech has always had a place in politics. From McCarthyism in the early 1950s to the Revolution of 1800, examples of mud-slinging and ad hominem attacks are not unheard of in US history. In just the years leading up to the Revolution of 1800, America saw great partisanship, with then-presidential candidate John Adams given the title of “His Rotundity” and then accused of being a hermaphrodite in 1800.
Verbal attacks in politics are not new, but the magnitude and public perception of such conduct are. History tells us that just a few decades back, the majority of presidential debates were orderly and civil, with much of the spoken and unspoken content being delivered through well-mannered means. This order was routine, so much so that when then-vice presidential candidate Al Gore was thought to have patronized his opponent through sighing in 2000, the backlash he received was immense.
Not too long ago, the taboo surrounding swearing was strong. The public and proud usage of profanity was rare, with decorum being the accepted standard. You would be hard-pressed to find instances of intentional public swearing, with experts noting how public use of political profanity was rare. While not all vulgarity is profane, their immense overlap helps us observe shifts in public opinion. Despite rising to prominence through their bold speech, figures like Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-WI) lost their entire careers for their abrasive and cruel nature. The televising of his cruel quarrel with lawyer Joseph Welch marked his undoing; the fine line of public opinion McCarthy treaded was ultimately stretched too thin. Today, abrasiveness is no longer looked down on. House members like Representative Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) can drop f-bombs on high-school students without so much as facing any formal discipline. Cases like these highlight the new status quo: the normalization of vulgarity that allows our officials to essentially push the boundaries of what they can say without repercussion.
In politics these days, most press is considered good press. According to a 2024 survey, 86 percent of US adults consume news from a digital device, with 56 percent often receiving their news this way. This shift in news platforms has led to a shift in focus. Give Instagram a minute, and it’ll take an hour. Instead of prioritizing researched and relevant headlines, social media platforms promote content that keeps users engaged. More and more Americans are present on such platforms, with adults 65 and older seeing s 17 percent increase in online representation since 2019. In this new age of social media, recognizing these predatory tendencies are difficult. Even for those of us raised in the age of social media, the ability to regulate our interaction with these engagement-inducing algorithms is hard.
For today’s politicians, there exists a lack of accountability within the system. There is an incentive to be loud, vulgar, and accusing—to make a spectacle. This incentive is amplified now more than ever for two reasons: Confirmation bias and virality. In order to keep us engaged with their platform, social media feeds us not with what is necessarily true, but with what we believe. By only delivering what we already believe, we begin to view politics through an increasingly partisan lens. Confirmation bias and the tendency to promote virality has brought the United States to a 21st century crisis.
While problems of vulgar and loud politicians are not new, our response to those officials has drastically changed. By disregarding decorum, our congressional hearings have become chaos. In place of rational dialogue, we have Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) hurling insults at each other across the floor and Van Orden cursing at children. Partly at fault is the changing public perception and acceptance of disorderly conduct in politics—a change in the ordinary, in the public mind. Desensitization is an issue not only because of our increased online exposure but the lack of regulation in the oval office and online.
When vulgar conduct is permitted, it seems as if the only option is to accept it and move on. When such a sentiment is adopted, it opens the gateways for content-based platforms to promote increasingly louder and louder media, slowly turning politics into a battle won by the loudest voice. While social media actors have been mentioned heavily throughout this article, the entirety of the blame should not solely be placed on them. Their platforms and algorithms, while profiting off toxicity, only exacerbate the already increasing desensitization permitted in the White House halls.
The spectacle of politics is glorified, promoted, and deemed successful through algorithmic sharing on social media platforms. Successful online, a lack of hard policy penalizing vulgar behavior lets our elected officials play the game of views, expressing themselves as loudly as they can with no fear of repercussion. For the politicians, this means campaign success. For the people, this means further partisanship. For the people, this means skewed media, an uninformed populace, and a government of disorder. On screens all across the United States—in the halls of Congress and the Oval Office—we are seeing the birth of a ritual that, if left unchecked, will continue growing in severity and magnitude, ultimately jeopardizing our democratic process.
Ritual is not a partisan issue. Neither is loudness nor disregarded decorum. If Capitol Hill fails to hold politicians accountable, then we must be the ones to. For many, this can begin with simply acknowledging and expressing awareness of the content we consume online. Expressing critical thought against the speech and expression of politicians and supporting the officials who promote rational debate and dialogue is essential. Petition for punitive legislation, call your elected officials, and use social media with intent. The very democratic process under threat is the means through which it can be protected.