10-03-2013, 08:37 AM
Admin -
The problem here is pretty simple to describe. The political spectrum is being severed and the two sides driven apart by an increasingly polarized media. Thus my reality and that of my friends on the right become very different because our media experiences are so different.
Sure, I could point to that red line above on US health care spending from OECD but if I' have insurance and am being told in the media I follow the US has the greatest health care system in the world (and allowing the free market to work its magic will make it even better) then I won't care much who OECD is or what they say. A politician with a very conservative district which gets its news from FOX and opinion from Rush IS more likely to believe all of America hates ObamaCare. Doesn't explain the millions of visits to the government's ACA website the past two days, but that doesn't matter. There aren't many radio stations in red states that aren't country music, religious or conservative talk other than maybe ESPN.
I've often wondered just how different my Google inquiry results are from those received by people on the other side of the political spectrum. "Custom" results just might tell each of us what we want to hear rather than inform us of any truth there might exist in the world. Not good for democracy.
I won't even go into the value placed today on intellectual honesty. All you have to do is watch commercials on TV. We have long been bombarded with fantasy claims by soap and deoderant ads. Half truths, allegations, innuendo and outright lies have become a cultural norm in advertising. How else can people be asked which they like more, Obama Care or the Affordable Care Act and many state a strong preference for the ACA? Just how long do we have to hear about imagined death panels? Just how can a Congressman state on TV ObamaCare is among the worst laws in the entire history of mankind. The history of mankind? And he seemed serious! Makes a guy want to cry.
The problem here is pretty simple to describe. The political spectrum is being severed and the two sides driven apart by an increasingly polarized media. Thus my reality and that of my friends on the right become very different because our media experiences are so different.
Sure, I could point to that red line above on US health care spending from OECD but if I' have insurance and am being told in the media I follow the US has the greatest health care system in the world (and allowing the free market to work its magic will make it even better) then I won't care much who OECD is or what they say. A politician with a very conservative district which gets its news from FOX and opinion from Rush IS more likely to believe all of America hates ObamaCare. Doesn't explain the millions of visits to the government's ACA website the past two days, but that doesn't matter. There aren't many radio stations in red states that aren't country music, religious or conservative talk other than maybe ESPN.
I've often wondered just how different my Google inquiry results are from those received by people on the other side of the political spectrum. "Custom" results just might tell each of us what we want to hear rather than inform us of any truth there might exist in the world. Not good for democracy.
I won't even go into the value placed today on intellectual honesty. All you have to do is watch commercials on TV. We have long been bombarded with fantasy claims by soap and deoderant ads. Half truths, allegations, innuendo and outright lies have become a cultural norm in advertising. How else can people be asked which they like more, Obama Care or the Affordable Care Act and many state a strong preference for the ACA? Just how long do we have to hear about imagined death panels? Just how can a Congressman state on TV ObamaCare is among the worst laws in the entire history of mankind. The history of mankind? And he seemed serious! Makes a guy want to cry.