JANUARY 16 2026
When power raises the middle finger, society loses its voice
How political language is redefining our social normsOne news item quickly replaces another, yet some events function as weak signals that would be dangerous to ignore. When L’Essentiel reported on Wednesday, January 14, that the President of the United States allegedly responded with a middle finger to a remark during a factory visit, the anecdote spoke volumes about our times. But the real issue is not Donald Trump. The issue is the profound transformation of how we speak to one another, from the highest levels of the state to the most ordinary interactions.
In this incident, the worker was suspended, while the White House defended Trump’s reaction as “appropriate and unambiguous” in response to a “deranged individual” hurling insults, according to a statement from the communications director.
The act is justified; the form is embraced. Yet in communication, form is already a message. The words, tone, and gestures of a leader legitimize behaviors. Social learning theory (Albert Bandura) shows that individuals replicate behaviors observed in authority figures. When political or economic leaders normalize aggression, contempt, or insult, these codes become acceptable within the public sphere.
How, then, can citizens be expected to engage in reasoned, rational, and respectful debate when those who govern favor invective, provocation, or the permanent staging of conflict?
Meaning is no longer stabilized by facts but contested through competing narratives. Official responses are no longer designed to explain, but to assert, polarize, or even provoke. This shift erodes trust, intensifies polarization, and weakens our collective ability to debate on factual grounds.
The media are not merely victims of this dynamic. The attention-driven economic model favors outrageous headlines, extreme simplification, and emotional impact at the expense of context. Political powers exploit this mechanism: they denounce the media while using them. The media, in turn, denounce those in power while relying on their provocations to generate audience engagement.
As for younger generations, they primarily consume information through social media, where algorithms prioritize emotional engagement over accuracy. In such an environment, educating citizens capable of critical thinking has become an urgent necessity.
When words lose their meaning, when gestures replace argument, when emotion supplants fact, public debate ceases to be a space for collective construction. What if each of us reclaimed speech with a sense of responsibility?
Author: Jennifer Pierrard
