“Two men say they’re Jesus – one of them must be wrong…” Dire Straits 1982
When reading the news, either in print, online, or on TV, we always rotate through multiple sources to try to avoid being unduly influenced by just one perspective. When doing this, it can seem like we’re reading about two completely different worlds. There is a thin thread of commonality, but only a very slight one. Because of busy lives, many people tend to go to only one or two of these news sources and trust the content as true. But it can’t all be true, the differences are too great. It’s now very easy to get drawn into an information “bubble” of like-minded opinions and interpretations, particularly when they validate your own. The information source appears well-studied both because of eloquent presentation and forcefulness of conviction. Why doubt it? The problem is that information presented in these bubbles can be incomplete. In the race to publish first, research may be minimized. Articles are edited in such a way as to not drive away a loyal audience. Thus you have reasonably smart people who are convinced they are fully informed, but really have only a part of the actual story. This is particularly true when news sources try to summarize a law, speech, executive order, hearing, or any other item that would take too long for most of us to read ourselves. So who’s right? Below are two examples of information bubbles created by the news media this past summer and fall showing just how differently the state of US politics could be interpreted. Do you think one is right and the other wrong? Are you in one of these bubbles? Neither? Can elements of both be correct?
Bubble #1:
The country, and life in general, was doing well. President Obama was riding a long string of popular approval ratings, and his own party’s candidate was firmly in the lead for the coming election. The unemployment rate was less than 5%, as low as it’s been in a long time. Our country was participating fully with the rest of the world in a Refugee Admissions Program to help people from war-torn countries. Millions of people now had health insurance who previously had none. Our leaders were friendly with most other world leaders and our stance with them not as provocative as it had been in the past. The environment was being protected by way of numerous regulations having been imposed on the coal and oil industries. The stoppage of construction on two new oil pipelines that would transit down the middle of the country was a laudable action. Race relations were improving thanks to all the attention brought by groups such as Black Lives Matter and the President himself. The LBGT community was having a justly heavy influence on an array of issues, including a high profile debate over public bathroom use. The continued accusations of email mishandling against Hillary Clinton were looking more like a witch hunt than anything else with no ill-intent having been uncovered. Despite a Republican majority in the House and Senate, the progressive agenda was proceeding well, and there were high expectations for the Senate to flip in the coming election, which would enable presumptive President Hillary Clinton to appoint and confirm a progressive justice to the Supreme Court.
Election night was a shock, and the outcome still unreal to most people. It wasn’t supposed to happen that way. All the polls pointed to a Clinton victory and a much closer, if not flipped, US Senate. Something went horribly wrong and the party rightfully put all energies into discovering what caused the anomaly and finding a way, if possible, to reverse the result. Recounts in two states, persuading electoral college electors to switch their votes, trying to prevent the final electoral college vote from being certified in the Senate – all were legitimate activities that simply came up short. Voluminous protests began over a range of topics, all demonstrating the overwhelming disagreement of the public with the new President. The size and popularity of these protests clearly indicate that a large majority of the American people had been disenfranchised in the election and were about to be harmed by forthcoming actions of an uncouth, intolerant President who is without regard for proper decorum on the world stage.
Bubble #2:
The country is in decline. President Obama has diminished our position of strength in the world with such actions as backing down from his own “red line” statement to the Syrian leader about the use of chemical weapons, agreeing to a dangerous one-sided nuclear deal with Iran, and nearly destroying our relationship with Israel. Racism is worse than it has been in decades with the rise of Black Lives Matter and a shooting war against cops. Ninety three million Americans are out of the labor force, the lowest participation rate in decades, yet we’re being told that statistically the country is fully employed (unemployment percentages less than 5% carry that description). Our health insurance premiums have skyrocketed. Two oil pipeline projects which would further decrease our dependency on foreign oil have been halted, one of them already more than 90% complete. Republicans had a bruising, but quite entertaining battle to determine their candidate for President. Four months before the election, the FBI director presented evidence which clearly showed Mrs. Clinton was in violation of the law – specifically, section F in 18 US Code 793. Despite that, he did not recommend prosecution. A private meeting between the US Attorney General and former President Bill Clinton several days before the FBI Directors statement left no doubt a “deal” had been struck. Americans began exercising their opposition to the President’s agenda at the ballot box as far back as 2010. More than 1,200 elected seats at the local, state and federal levels of government “flipped” from Democrat to Republican in the succeeding 6 years. As a result, voters had given Republicans majorities in State Senates, State Houses, State Governorships, the US House, and the US Senate. There was only one elected office of consequence left in Democrat hands – the Presidency.
The election night result was just a continuation of how Americans across the country had been voting in their state and local elections for the last 6 years. Any of the Republican candidates would’ve won this Presidential election – the proof demonstrated by the fact that the least likely of the original 17 Republican candidates was the winner. The Democrats had now been soundly defeated at every level of government, the voters having sent a crystal clear message. It is now absolutely imperative that the Republican majorities in the house and senate, as well as the President, act in the interests of the voters who put them there and not be dissuaded by loud protesters.
What now?
It’s no wonder there is a deep divide in this country. Do we even want to explore the world outside our own bubbles? It appears a savage, ugly place. Stepping out of our protective shell puts us at risk of finding ourselves mistaken in our own closely-held beliefs. Getting to the “real truth” takes focused research and reflective thought, which most busy people don’t have enough time for. Discussion can leave us exposed to the wrath of others. Yet, there may be valuable insights to be gleaned from the minds of those in other bubbles. Is it worth the effort to find out? Or, after a hard day, do we just want to curl up with our favorite news sources and relax as they scratch us gently between our ears?
One Response
The people in Bubble #1 can only exist in an opulent, wealthy, decadent society whose luxuries are won, protected, and upheld by the realists, the fighters, the builders of Bubble #2.