Studies of online echo chambers don’t paint the full picture of Americans’ political segregation. New research shows that the problem is more Fox News Channel and MSNBC than Facebook and Twitter.
While it’s true that the “freedom convoy” revealed deep political polarization, it’s also true that it has provided us with the opportunity to create a more inclusive and participatory democracy.
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Rather than tolerating divisiveness and intolerance, we can and we should embrace this important moment to create a more participatory form of democracy.
The impact of political stress on mental health needs to be probed more deeply.
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Even before the pandemic, divisive politics was affecting mental health, and political topics were being raised in therapy. Now, patients want therapists that share their views.
The Department of Justice indicted six officers of Russia’s GRU military intelligence service in October 2020 on charges of hacking and deploying malware.
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Russia probably has the means to attack US electrical grids and otherwise create havoc but probably won’t go that far. Instead, watch for disinformation aimed at undermining the US and NATO.
Protesters and counter-protesters face off at a political rally in September 2021.
AP Photo/Nathan Howard
Deep-seated disagreement is healthy for a democracy. But when people lose the ability to navigate those differences, they risk seeking anti-democratic unity of thought.
Agreeing to disagree? Showing empathy or compassion about why someone holds opinions very different from yours can help defuse polarization.
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Multiple factors determined whether or not individual Americans adopted COVID-19 safety measures, according to statistical analysis of public opinion data.
An editorial cartoon from 1900 shows the Populist Party swallowing the Democratic Party.
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The most successful third parties in US politics don’t typically rise to dominance, but instead challenge the major parties enough to force a course correction.
A man wearing a face mask wheels his wheelchair past a spray-painted wall in downtown Vancouver in March 2020.
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Cross-partisanship co-operation among political leaders doesn’t neatly translate into a similar consensus among the Canadian public, including those with disabilities or chronic health conditions.
Benjamin Franklin learned over his lifetime how to be humble and open when he talked to and with people.
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Benjamin Franklin spoke and wrote in ways that, if taken up now, could begin to erode the polarization of the current era.
A Trump supporter and an anti-Trump demonstrator shout at each other near Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, D.C., Nov. 14, 2020.
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Biden’s winning campaign message was one of unity. But even the people who study polarization can’t agree on whether it’s possible to unify the United States.
A woman views a manipulated video that changes what is said by President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama.
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How much weight would you put on a scientist’s expertise versus the opinion of a random stranger? People on either end of the political spectrum decide differently what seems true.
Talking politics increasingly seems like an exercise in talking past one another.
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Using machine learning to study over 85 million YouTube comments, a research team has, for the first time, identified linguistic differences among cable news viewers.
People see bias in the stories that favor the other party, but they tend not to see bias in stories favoring their own party.
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Charges of media bias are nothing new, though they’ve gotten louder since 2016, led by President Trump. But a press free to take a variety of viewpoints was the founders’ intention.
Something about our current moment seems to have put a particular strain on our personal relationships.
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A recent Pew survey showed just how deep the divide has become, with about 40% of registered voters saying that they didn’t have a single close friend supporting a different presidential candidate.
Both Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Donald Trump have been accused of using hate speech.
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My research shows that when politicians use hate speech, it’s not just empty rhetoric or political theater: Domestic terrorism increases, in the US and in other countries.
Protestors hold anti-mask signs at a protest in St. Paul, Minnesota.
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