None of us has the god-like perspective it would take to be truly objective. All of our experiences are mediated by the time & place in which we find ourselves, our past experiences, the gaps in our knowledge, and any number of other biasing factors. Media we consume add their biases — and it’s not necessarily a left or right thing. Even journalists striving to be objective are limited by space – and so have to pick & choose which facts or what context to mention and what to leave out. Newspapers and broadcasts are going to include deviations from the norm (man-bites-dog rather than dog-bites-man) and stories that increase subscriptions or get viewers to watch through the commercials.
But, it seems to me (and this is hardly original) that social media algorithms are taking this to the next level. I hesitate to make too much of this because I think there is a tendency to fear-monger new trends and technologies. (“Comic books are ruining our youth!”) The algorithms are designed to increase engagement between the user and the social media platform. Emotional experiences are more likely to keep the user’s attention and negative emotions are easier to provoke than positive ones. So, you end up with a lot of people spending a lot of time viewing the world through the lens of a platform designed to keep you coming back by making you anxious or angry.
I hesitate to make this analogy because I don’t have any expertise in mental health, but I wonder if this is in some ways analogous to what an individual goes through with depression. Their brain filters out the positive and emphasizes the negative, creating a feeling of hopelessness. Only in this case, it’s not brain chemistry doing the filtering but a business that wants you paying attention long enough to show you ads.
For what it’s worth, I’ve spent the last few days without checking Twitter or Facebook where I’m typically a heavy user. I’m not ready to judge that as good or bad, but it’s different. This will auto-post to Twitter. I don’t think I have anything similar set up on Facebook.
I have had one stint (lasted about a month and a half) of depression and I could see the good but your right it was easier to focus on the darker side of life.
The people that listen to right wing media can’t use their brains to separate the facts from the fiction. The left wing doesn’t have as much radio presence as the right and older white voters who listen to right wing radio.tend to show up in droves to vote. So called pundits like Rush Limbaugh who is syndicated on over 600 radio stations across the United States and FOX’s Sean Hannity spew out lies at a alarming rate.So much of it is based on little or no facts and the people who have only a high school education and even the college educated people that only have time to watch and listen to these programs get angry. These programs spew lies that the liberals want their guns, will let immigrants into the country and they will get benefits and take their jobs, there is some sort of deep state out there that is undermining the right wing of our government, George Soros is the most evil man in America and Biden has dementia and Harris will turn the country to communism or socialism.
When I point out that government schools, Social Security,, Welfare, Medicare and Medicaid to name a few of the socialist programs in the U.S. they usually come back and say go to Europe and live in a socialist country and you will come crawling on your knees to come back to the United States. I then point out two months of vacation, mother’s can take off a year for maternity leave and get 75% of their salary, the father gets a month off at 100% their salary. Free health, dental and eye care and free college.The pay is 15% more then Americans and they still have strong unions. They usually spew some hate filled post back at me. It was fun at the beginning but I know longer do it because people are so brain washed that it’s a waste of my time. The sad part is this is Trump’s base and us so called liberals (educated people that sort out the fact from the fiction) will need to come out every election and vote or we will keep getting idiots like Trump in the White House.
There is a wild card in the next Presidential election Mark Cuban. I think he might have run this election but he didn’t want to split the vote and let Trump become a second term president. He is smart, tech, business savvy and I think he would play the political game way better then Trump. We might need someone like him to become president since the next war might be fought on the digital front. Imagine a country taking down our internet for a week, frightening.
I don’t want to “both sides” this because I tend to see it as worse on the right, but I do see it on the left as well. Sometimes I have ground-level familiarity with a policy that my more liberal acquaintances take issue with and have seen conspiratorial explanations take root when the real explanations (and effects) are much more mundane.
That’s true Doug, I just don’t have that many left friends that go that far left, this Indiana and I don’t live close to IU or Purdue.Your wife Amy went to school or taught (not sure which one) in my Township she could vouch for me that it tilts way right! :) . We rarely talk about our ideas when we are online or in person.I think we were so focused on what the Republicans were doing and what can be done to reverse some of their really bad decisions.
The only issue we have discussed in a length is abortion and I am pro-birth, meaning if abortion is outlawed all the middle aged well off politicians better pony up the money to take care of the impoverished babies. kids ,young adults and their mothers. The social net will cost the taxpayers millions.Will they legislate sex education in the schools. free birth control, free medical care and prenatal vitamins and other free services.How many more kids will the girl or lady will decide to have? Then we have to find a way to keep these young men and women from repeating the same mistakes their parents made.
I was made aware if Roe vs Wade is repealed each state would revert back to whatever laws was on the books before it’s passage. Not sure if it is true but it will be a balled up mess.As usual the poor will take it on the chin.