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Submitted via IRC for FatPhil
Social media and internet not cause of political polarisation (new research suggests)
Using a random sample of adult internet users in the UK, researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute and the University of Ottawa examined people’s media choices, and how much they influenced their interaction with echo chambers, against six key variables: gender, income, ethnicity, age, breadth of media use and political interest. The findings reveal that rather than encouraging the use and development of echo chambers, the breadth of multimedia available actually makes it easier for people to avoid them.
Dr Grant Blank, co-author and research fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute, said: ‘Whatever the causes of political polarisation today, it is not social media or the internet.
‘If anything, most people use the internet to broaden their media horizons. We found evidence that people actively look to confirm the information that they read online, in a multitude of ways. They mainly do this by using a search engine to find offline media and validate political information. In the process they often encounter opinions that differ from their own and as a result whether they stumbled across the content passively or use their own initiative to search for answers while double checking their “facts”, some changed their own opinion on certain issues.’
[...] Dr Elizabeth Dubois, co-author and Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa, said: ‘Our results show that most people are not in a political echo chamber. The people at risk are those who depend on only a single medium for political news and who are not politically interested: about 8% of the population. However, because of their lack of political engagement, their opinions are less formative and their influence on others is likely to be comparatively small.’
The echo chamber is overstated: the moderating effect of political interest and diverse media, Elizabeth Dubois & Grant Blank in Information, Communication & Society. 2018 (DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2018.1428656)
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Wednesday March 13 2019, @12:25AM (18 children)
So-called "centrists" and "moderates" are people without principles. As an example of how "moderates" tend to think, you get "extremist" side A saying "We should kill 10 puppies, just for the fun of it!", "extremist" side B saying "No, we shouldn't kill puppies without a good reason!", and the centrists will conclude that we should kill 5 puppies for fun.
The real reason for "polarization" has a lot more to do with the fact that the "centrists" and "moderates" involved in our political system have fouled things up, big time, and refused to change course or even show any signs of taking responsibility. If the so-called centrists want to regain control of the political system, they'll have to show that they can do a better job than the so-called extremists, and they can't do that because their lack of principles means that they often get bribed or fooled into positions that are worse than any of the so-called extremists.
As for how overblown the fears of polarization are: Back not quite a decade ago, representatives from a local Occupy Wall Street protest and a local Tea Party group met up. You'd think this was going to be nasty, but it turned out they agreed about a great many things. Funny how those with power always want those without power too busy hating the 'other' to talk to them.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @12:32AM (2 children)
If the "moderates" have no principles what do the puppy torturers have in terms of principles?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by fustakrakich on Wednesday March 13 2019, @02:35AM
If the "moderates" have no principles what do the puppy torturers have in terms of principles?
The same. The difference between 5 and 10 is the accountant's problem, not the priest's.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Wednesday March 13 2019, @05:02PM
The puppy-torturer's principles are evil ones, no doubt about it. The centrist's complete lack of principles, on the other hand, lead them to be part of evil acts rather than denounce them as evil. That makes both of them a problem.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Kilo110 on Wednesday March 13 2019, @01:26AM (3 children)
Nice strawman you got there.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Thexalon on Wednesday March 13 2019, @02:27PM (1 child)
Real-life moderates have agreed (because to outright oppose it would be "extremist") to killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqi and Afghan civilians for oil pipelines, torturing a few hundred people at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib, and carefully looking the other way while people commit financial crimes that crash the global economy. It's totally ridiculous to think they'd also agree to killing puppies for fun.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday March 13 2019, @05:15PM
Yeah, yeah, but everyone knows that killing innocent animals is the first step towards becoming a mass-murderer. I mean, they couldn't skip that step, right?
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by DeVilla on Friday March 15 2019, @04:35AM
Would have been a better strawman if "extremist" side B had said "No, we must never kill puppies for any reason!"
(Score: 1, Troll) by SubiculumHammer on Wednesday March 13 2019, @03:02AM (4 children)
The problem is the growing power of the Federal government in a nation composed of many different people's and ideologies. States need more power, then most of this angst would go away.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @04:06AM (3 children)
You are adorable! Do you believe in the tooth fairy too?
There's far more corruption and abuse of power in state and local governments than there is in the Federal government.
Don't take my word for it either. Go look at the data yourself.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @07:40AM
Lucky us he's only a-dorable and not anti-dorable.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by exaeta on Wednesday March 13 2019, @10:13AM
Have to agree here. I've personally dealt with both governments and I can definitely confirm my state is much more corrupt than the federal government.
Life tenure for judges was a great idea, elections for judges not so much. Elections lead to corrupt judges, unfortunately.
The Government is a Bird
(Score: 2) by DeVilla on Friday March 15 2019, @04:46AM
There's corruption at all levels. But my city council and mayor have to look me and our neighbors in the eye. We know each other on a first name basis. I know a lot of places aren't like that, but it a feature to look for in a community. And even though I live in such a small town, we still are visited, in person, by our state legislators pretty regularly and not just during the election cycle. Seeing the governor is town is less common, but has happened.
I've never seen my federal reps in person. Don't know who they answer to, but it's not me or my neighbors. The corruption in D.C. consistently makes anything happening here seem pretty benign.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @03:33AM
I smell an extremist trying to justify his unjustifiable values by trying (and failing miserably) to demonstrate that he has the moral higher ground.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @05:04AM
You're wrong. Side B in your example are the moderates.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @07:37AM (1 child)
I can do one better: totally ignoring the haggle of how many puppies the extremes proposed to kill, that's a thing I don't care, 't's not gonna have any consequence on how the life on this Earth is gonna look like.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @01:55PM
But Trump IS currently the president of the fucking USA. And that's got plenty of consequence. For example all the rotten judges he's installed will perverse the course of justice for decades to come.
Ignore reality to your own peril.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Wednesday March 13 2019, @09:45AM (1 child)
My model of polarization is: you have a bunch of sheep, you want them to go towards a goal, you put two barking dogs at the sides of the goal and one behind. The two barking dogs are Ideology, the rear barking dog is Need for Money.
The barking dogs are not meant to be embraced.
Of course this needs to be more subtle after sheep realize the trick but after a generation you can start again with the young sheep.
As for this study.
>UKians
>against six key variables: gender, income, ethnicity, age, breadth of media use and political interest.
they forgot beer. Wastebasket it.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @10:33AM
Bangers and mash too.