...we generally don’t truly want good information — but rather information that confirms our prejudices. We may believe intellectually in the clash of opinions, but in practice we like to embed ourselves in the reassuring womb of an echo chamber.
As our culture continues to move inward as a me-centripetal force (if you will), the current online distribution and exchange of information and news has become a virtual strip malll. Instead of listening, reading and watching the world move and change through a relatively objective perspective (e.g. US World News, CNN, BBC, NPR etc..), we are scavenging the internet for the news we want to hear, and closing ourselves off to the resources that we either (a) disagree with, (b) aren't familiar with or (c) lie outside of our circle of communication.
Neither of which are legitimate excuses to sever ourselves from knowing the full specturm of the issues that confront us-- That is whether we want to know them or not.
The difficulty we are facing today, and what Nicholas D. Kristof points out breifly in the article above is that our knowledge is bundling into communities, collectives, and political and or agenda driven circles leaving it no room for opposing or alternative viewpoints. This cunundrum only facilitates the me-centripital force which drives the task (or non task rather) of the post-modern age which is hypothetically under the guise of tolerance and depolarization. Interestingly though, we ended up on the other end of the spectrum.
He goes on to explain...
The effect of The Daily Me would be to insulate us further in our own hermetically sealed political chambers. One of last year’s more fascinating books was Bill Bishop’s “The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart.” He argues that Americans increasingly are segregating themselves into communities, clubs and churches where they are surrounded by people who think the way they do.
Almost half of Americans now live in counties that vote in landslides either for Democrats or for Republicans, he said. In the 1960s and 1970s, in similarly competitive national elections, only about one-third lived in landslide counties.
“The nation grows more politically segregated — and the benefit that ought to come with having a variety of opinions is lost to the righteousness that is the special entitlement of homogeneous groups,” Mr. Bishop writes.
One 12-nation study found Americans the least likely to discuss politics with people of different views, and this was particularly true of the well educated. High school dropouts had the most diverse group of discussion-mates, while college graduates managed to shelter themselves from uncomfortable perspectives.
The result is polarization and intolerance.
I am curious to hear what you think.
