This is something I’ve been wondering for a long time.
How much of the political polarization and the social fear that we see these days is the media and the internet responsible for?
By political polarization, I mean the left/right wingnuts and their irrational hate for candidates and policies of the opposing party, and the constant exhortation that the other party is evil, and bent on ruining the country.
By “social fear”, I mean the fear that people seem to have these days about things like murderous carjackers, child molesters, kidnappers, school bombings, school shootings and the like. And how many of those are fueled by the media?
I don’t recall things being like this in the 70s and 80s, or even early 90s. It seems to me that a lot of it started changing with the advent of CNN and the 24-7 worldwide news coverage that followed.
I argue with people that no, there aren’t any more child molesters than before, it’s just that when they get caught in Oregon, people in Key West hear about it a few minutes later.
And that no, school bombings aren’t new and neither are school shootings. It’s just that in the past, you didn’t hear about it outside the locality or possibly region.
Finally, I argue that no, the Democrats are neither crazy nor evil, and while they may want to take your guns, they aren’t going to have the people in black helicopters show up at your door at 2 am and demand them.
Am I off base? Are all these things really a bigger deal than in times past, or is it just a matter of the existence of immediate and intense coverage and the existence of a persistent forum for crazy ideas?