My wife has co-workers who will not allow their kids on Facebook. I am not sure what they think will happen but they are basically alienating their kids from what is the modern social interactive network for them. Everything kids do is through Facebook. They don't actually make phone calls or use e-mails with their own friends. Everything is text or Facebook. In fact they use their phones to access Facebook.
Politifact on Echo Chamber
The paradox of the Internet age is that never before have we had access to more ideas and different thoughts. And yet, many of us retreat into comfy parlors where everyone agrees and the other side is always wrong. Each side can manufacture its truths and get the chorus to sing along.
Actually I have a Republican friend who I follow and who follows me. We just have certain rules of engagement. He can't use WSJ and Fox News, and I can't use Moveon. We can both use latimes.com and bloomberg.com. He's an atheist and mostly rational so it works.
It was almost believable until you said he was an atheist republican. :)Originally Posted by Lorini
I mostly don't talk politics with conservative friends, or else do so in a very limited context way (small picture stuff, horse-race style political prediction), so as not to really get into a situation where we're talking about how we find one another's sides morally repugnant.
Conservative friendly acquaintances, well, if they want to shoot the shit I'll go along, but on the inside I'm usually thinking "Ugh, no one ever changes their minds a jot in these conversations, and everyone else at this party will think we're a pair of pompous blowhards." I'm earnest about my politics and earnest political disputation, insofar as it has a useful function in political discourse, is more about convincing third parties than the person you're disagreeing with. In most (?) social contexts I really don't see an earnest political argument doing much good compared to the risk of boring or alienating people. It happens anyway, but I'm always thinking "shoot, I've got to get off of this soapbox."
He's an atheist Jewish Republican who hates the social conservatives :) I keep telling him he should be Independent, but he wants to vote in a primary.
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