Filter Bubbles

I'm not on Facebook all that much.  Back in high school it was an aggregate to see what all of your real friends were up to, but now it's mostly "suggested content" (advertisements) and political garbage articles spread without any regard for fact checking or intellectual dignity by people you don't even know.  I've seen friends on both sides of the political spectrum sharing something inflammatory and then being called out immediately because it was factually untrue. 

I'm not surprised how divided people are today.  The sort of algorithms that Eli Pariser talked about have amplified the effects confirmation bias has on our information diet.  I feel like all we see are emotionally charged, opinion-validating articles masquerading as unbiased fact.  The ones we like and the ones we don't like confirm our biases that "we" are sensible and correct and "they" are crazy and evil. 

Fox News has turned the word "liberal" into a curse word and now I hear people hating on others calling them "liberals" with no regard to what liberalism actually is politically.  It just means "someone people who identify as conservatives don't like." The word "socialist" has received the same treatment.  When conservative oriented people see news involving "liberals" it's always some screeching, smug stereotype who feels more like a comic book villain than a real person.

The left isn't much better.  I've noticed a disturbing trend in recent years where some people on the left want to label anyone they don't like as a nazi.  There's a real and shameful presence of neo-nazis in America, but to say anyone who thinks immigration laws need to exist or that an over-reliance on welfare can adversely affect the economy are actual no-holds-barred nazis is ignorant at best.  I'm not a "commie" because I think excessive wealth inequality is bad for the economy, and they deserve the same respect.