# Are political echo chambers bad for society?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-political-echo-chambers-bad-for-society/725203>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [July 15, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-political-echo-chambers-bad-for-society/725203 "2015-07-15T01:53:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 6

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-political-echo-chambers-bad-for-society/725203/101 "2015-08-08T06:35:21Z")

</div>

> [@GIGObuster](#):
>
> Post #60 and Post #65 gave the cites already, they show that Republicans are willing to toss Nuclear power when it is under a framework to deal with our emissions, and how the Obama administration guarantees loans for power plants under construction that would go under otherwise.
> 
> So where we are? Paying attention to a discussion and not relying on just the echo chambers. 🙂

And you miss the point yet again. The problem wasn’t with nuclear, it was that nuclear was tied to things that the Pubs did not support like mandating renewables. Germany mandated renewables and their electricity prices went up 60% in five years. Germany is also phasing out nuclear by 2022. All these mandates resulted in higher prices and grid instability. The net result is that Germany is now relying on coal and actually _increased_ their carbon output.

But them republicans are stupid for not following Germany’s lead, right?

The hard truth, though you may wish it isn’t so, is that we need energy and renewables are not reliable enough to handle the baseload. Which leaves fossil fuels and nuclear.

And if you don’t want fossil fuels that leaves nuclear. Yet Obama killed Yucca so the waste problem is set back at least 20 years.

Throw in the lawsuits from liberal and Nimby groups whenever a plant is planned and nuclear is all but dead. It takes roughly 20 years to wade through the lawsuits so the plants that are built use older, less safe technology. It is just stupid.

Nuclear is safe, even including the latest accident wind kills more people per TWH than  
Nuclear. But the fear monitoring, generally done by liberals and Nimbys, creates the impression that nuclear isn’t safe.

Slee

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-political-echo-chambers-bad-for-society/725203/102 "2015-08-08T07:06:23Z")

</div>

From [a cite upthread](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/31/how-fox-news-made-my-dad-crazy.html):

> [@](#):
>
> What’s more alarming than his blustery rhetoric, according to the film, is that Limbaugh’s rise to power and influence not only took him into the hearts and homes of millions but also made him and talk radio hosts like him the news source of choice for Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia. “Imagine that you’re a Supreme Court justice deciding on things like war and peace, civil liberties, gay marriage, and your window into the world is Rush Limbaugh’s three-hour monologue,” says media critic Jeff Cohen. “That’s pretty damn scary.”

Is it true that Thomas and Scalia are fans of radio-jocks like Limbaugh?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-political-echo-chambers-bad-for-society/725203/103 "2015-08-08T20:38:58Z")

</div>

> [@septimus](#):
>
> From [a cite upthread](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/31/how-fox-news-made-my-dad-crazy.html):
> 
> Is it true that Thomas and Scalia are fans of radio-jocks like Limbaugh?

Wikipedia says Thomas officiated at one of Limbaugh’s many weddings.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-political-echo-chambers-bad-for-society/725203.md?page=5)