“The U.S. is in an information war with itself. The public sphere, where Americans discuss public issues, is broken. There’s little discussion – and lots of fighting. One reason why: Persuasion is difficult, slow and time-consuming – it doesn’t make good television or social media content – and so there aren’t a lot of good examples of it in our public discourse.”
A lot of what I’m reading and hearing seems like propaganda.
“Propaganda is anti-democratic because it influences while using strategies like fear appeals, disinformation, conspiracy theory and more.”
I think most people know that social media (now essential for social contacts) can be an unreliable source of accurate information:
“A lot of people use their social media connections and platforms to knowingly and unknowingly spread misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy and partisan talking points – all forms of propaganda.”
Social media sites employ rating systems to promote engagement.
“Social media platforms train users to communicate as propagandists: Recent research shows that platform users learn to express polarizing emotions like outrage through ‘social learning.’ Social media users are taught through app feedback – positive reinforcement through notifications – and peer-learning – what they see others do – to post outrage even if they don’t feel outraged and they don’t want to spread outrage.”
And so we end up using derogatory terms for those whose opinions we don’t like, and we resist any effort to understand their situations or credit them with any intelligence. I’m reading too much of that and the differences between sides seem irreconcilable.
I thought Kamala Harris was proposing policies to bring us together. Maybe there wasn’t enough time for the message to get through, or maybe we have just become so angry from all the propaganda that we’re not ready to resolve anything yet. I am hopeful the new Pope is a step in the right direction. He is in a position to influence possibly billions of people.
-Dave