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The partisan media is to blame the new political radicalization in this country.
Once upon a time the news media reported news to keep Americans informed of what was going on in the world. They provided many diverse POV on issues.
Now it's all agenda-driven opinion journalism and if you don't agree with them then you're a racist.
Totally agree. Angry white males have become much more aggressive with their views since Idiot Limbaugh and Faux News came along.
Seems to me that there is a push to become Pure Conservatives or Pure Liberals. This seems to correspond to a movement towards irrationality, intolerance, black and white thinking, and braindead insults. The GOP provides a textbook example of this lately. The party that once nominated intelligent guys like Eisenhower, Nixon, GHW Bush, etc. now puts forward televangelists like Bachmann, Perry, etc. I have a hard time seeing Eisenhower trying to "pray away the gay."
Folks who listen to Fox News or MSNBC or other partisan propaganda outlets are both choosing to dumb themselves down. It is self-evident that in a large, complex country, no single ideology can speak for all people, and the inability to see that obvious fact, is tearing the country apart, and it is just plain stupid.
A clue to whether a person fits the above description, is if you listen to Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, etc... and do not hear their news commentators intentionally leave out facts, distort the truth and facts, while they slant the news, even though they lean heavily in your direction.
Even the hard news folks on these news networks can sometimes get their facts wrong, be fed a bogus story and be unaware of this. Other times they can just flat out knowingly distort the facts, out of pure political partisanship or ideological bigotry. So if you have never even heard the hard news reporters do this, then you may fit in with what the OP is saying.
you do realize that today our politicians are mild compared to what we had in the past right?
In what context? The amount of taxpayer money pouring into the corruption with political cronyism and crony capitalism are off the charts. The people are witnessing the treasury being looted on a scale we've never seen before.
Or are you just referring to our politicians engaging in outrageous and destructive political rhetoric?
How far in the past? There was a thread here yesterday that had the republican party platform from 1960. It looks very similar to the current democrat party platform.
The Dem platform is calling everyone who disagrees with them racists, homophobes, and evil.
The Dem platform is calling everyone who disagrees with them racists, homophobes, and evil.
To bring this into the thread...Sure, that mentality is silly, if it really exists (I suspect some people think that way), but it is just as silly to claim that that half the voters believe in that.
Think about it. How many times have you read RINO here? How many times have you read DINO? What is the left wing analog to the Tea Party?
Bottomline, the partisanship is not symmetrical across the political spectrum these days. It may have been that back in the 1960s or so, when the left had more extreme partisanship (the true communist, hippy types were in love with themselves (don't trust anyone over 30!) and challenging the more traditional dems), but these days hyperpartisanship has a right wing tilt. In both cases, it leads to foolishness, IMO.
I guess you forgot about the blue dog democrats? You know, the ones that "held their party hostage" and didn't just jump on board with some of Obama's big initiatives during his 1st term.
Seems to me that there is a push to become Pure Conservatives or Pure Liberals. This seems to correspond to a movement towards irrationality, intolerance, black and white thinking, and braindead insults. The GOP provides a textbook example of this lately. The party that once nominated intelligent guys like Eisenhower, Nixon, GHW Bush, etc. now puts forward televangelists like Bachmann, Perry, etc. I have a hard time seeing Eisenhower trying to "pray away the gay."
Folks who listen to Fox News or MSNBC or other partisan propaganda outlets are both choosing to dumb themselves down. It is self-evident that in a large, complex country, no single ideology can speak for all people, and the inability to see that obvious fact, is tearing the country apart, and it is just plain stupid.
I think there is no question that the danger of what is called an echo chamber is a danger to anyone and certainly not just political parties. In fact, I find politics to be a fairly weak indication of an echo chamber since most people aren't all that political.
But people still do fall into echo chambers, by only being friends and hanging around people who are like themselves and who have had similar life experiences, are about the same age, same gender, same type of job, etc.
That is the echo chamber that is a danger to all of us. Politics not so much.
Although, I'd say given the constituencies in the Democratic party there is less chance of this.
What I mean is this Democrats represent labor, civil rights, women's rights, immigrant rights mostly latin, homosexual rights, college students, highly educated urban professionals, etc and those groups have interests that conflict with one another. And where those groups interests are in conflict there is disagreement and no hard and fast ideology surrounding that conflict.
conservatives as a group are much more homogenous. The vast majority of conservatives are white are older, are married, etc as are result they have much more similar life experiences and a world view and are much more in agreement about their core beliefs, because they are much more alike than the Democratic party.
That is why echo chamber thinking is more likely for conservatives.
I think there is no question that the danger of what is called an echo chamber is a danger to anyone and certainly not just political parties. In fact, I find politics to be a fairly weak indication of an echo chamber since most people aren't all that political.
But people still do fall into echo chambers, by only being friends and hanging around people who are like themselves and who have had similar life experiences, are about the same age, same gender, same type of job, etc.
That is the echo chamber that is a danger to all of us. Politics not so much.
Although, I'd say given the constituencies in the Democratic party there is less chance of this.
What I mean is this Democrats represent labor, civil rights, women's rights, immigrant rights mostly latin, homosexual rights, college students, highly educated urban professionals, etc and those groups have interests that conflict with one another. And where those groups interests are in conflict there is disagreement and no hard and fast ideology surrounding that conflict.
conservatives as a group are much more homogenous. The vast majority of conservatives are white are older, are married, etc as are result they have much more similar life experiences and a world view and are much more in agreement about their core beliefs, because they are much more alike than the Democratic party.
That is why echo chamber thinking is more likely for conservatives.
The problem there is that you are talking about party affiliated voters vs. issue voters. Several of the groups you name are virtually homogenous straight ticket groups that vote for a party even when it's against their best interests.
I 100% agree that echo chambers are very bad for being an informed individual. Personally, I won't listen to ANY talking head or biased organization because you walk away feeling you have to then go fact check the whole thing for what they either intentionally left out or twisted etc. For example, I like NPR but I've caught them occasionally putting out some BS on a topic I know well and it's infuriating. However, it's infrequent enough that I cut them some slack. Rush Limbaugh on the other hand....I trust as far as I can throw, but then again that's his job (but some don't get that.).
The problem there is that you are talking about party affiliated voters vs. issue voters. Several of the groups you name are virtually homogenous straight ticket groups that vote for a party even when it's against their best interests.
I 100% agree that echo chambers are very bad for being an informed individual. Personally, I won't listen to ANY talking head or biased organization because you walk away feeling you have to then go fact check the whole thing for what they either intentionally left out or twisted etc. For example, I like NPR but I've caught them occasionally putting out some BS on a topic I know well and it's infuriating. However, it's infrequent enough that I cut them some slack. Rush Limbaugh on the other hand....I trust as far as I can throw, but then again that's his job (but some don't get that.).
Rush Limbaugh provides false courage for the conservative mind.
I didn't know a damn thing about that topic (health care, global climate, environmental protection, geopolitics, astrophysics...), but after a half hour with Rush I feel like I'm a damn Nobel Laureate!
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You know, the ones that "held their party hostage" and didn't just jump on board with some of Obama's big initiatives during his 1st term.
