We need a simple mechanism to understand the bias in what we are reading / hearing via media. Cases in point:
Left-leaning:
- Salon
- Slate
- Mother Jones
- New Yorker
- Huffpo
- MSNBC
- Paul Krugman
Right-leaning:
- Fox
- National Review
- Chicago Tribune, etc
- Rush Limbaugh, etc
Why is this important?
1. Neurophysiology: ...mirroring, repetition bias, etc, cf Goleman et al ... enables one steady diet of information - from any side of the political spectrum - to literally rewire the physiology of our brain. The more I listen in the echo chamber, the more PHYSIOLOGICALLY impaired I am in hearing the real world
2. Continued drift to the extremes, cf (Jay Cost?) work on congressional bias over time.
3. Rejection that life is simple ... that people who oppose you are stupid or evil ... failure to recognize that I am not only my brother's keeper, I am my brother, and he is me. Quote from Bill Maher ...
