"[T]here’s pretty good evidence that 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."
I hardly ever agree with anything New York Times columnist Nicolas Kristof writes, but his piece on Wednesday was astoundingly provocative and an absolute must-read.
His basic premise is that with the demise of print media and our reliance on the Internet as an information source, we Americans are mostly surrounding ourselves with folks that think like us and, therefore, aren't really being challenged to defend our views on the important issues of the day.
Before casting this aside as so much liberal elite twaddle, consider the following:
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. Cass Sunstein, a Harvard law professor now working for President Obama, has conducted research showing that when liberals or conservatives discuss issues such as affirmative action or climate change with like-minded people, their views quickly become more homogeneous and more extreme than before the discussion.
For example, some liberals in one study initially worried that action on climate change might hurt the poor, while some conservatives were sympathetic to affirmative action. But after discussing the issue with like-minded people for only 15 minutes, liberals became more liberal and conservatives more conservative. [snip]
Interesting. Does that mean the information superhighway is actually narrowing our horizons rather than broadening them?
Before dismissing this notion offhand, ask yourself how many liberal websites you surfed today, and how many people you have in your inner circle that don't share your political point of view.
So do yourself a favor: go find a liberal [or conservative, or 'other'] to argue with! [ahem: debate]
[Shortish and quite good, and gratifying to see. Those of you who know me have likely heard my {self aggrandizing} speech re: my 'discipline' to read a number of left-blogs every day (kos, huff, media matters etc. - I've even posted from the latter).
Point is; this is the dark side of the new media. As empowering as being able to select our own 'news' is, we're also self-filtering - with the exact effects described above, so...
I re (re-re) offer free advice: try to spend half your news browsing time reading those articles that don't sound agreeable or 'right' per the title. It's surprisingly tough (dumbness can be painful) - but what exactly are we learning by reading only what we already agree with?
Highly Recommend (from the New York Times, mind) > ]
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