Negative Bias


Lately I’ve been reading and hearing that media, including social media, has been responsible for an increasing polarization in politics. This Freakonomics episode shows that the use of negative headlines outnumbers the positive more than six to one. The episode explains that negative news, especially negative news about the outgroup, left if you are right, right if you are left, tends to get amplified through social media. It discusses how politicians need to walk that fine line between negativity (about the outgroup) and staying popular. Rathje’s “research would suggest that social media amplifies the bad and it amplifies the ugly.“

The next episode focuses on our addiction to contempt. According to Brooks, 93 percent of Americans are fed up with how divided their country has become. OK. This is not the USA. It’s Canada. But I see in the media, especially in social media, that we are headed down the same path. Brooks suggests there is a kind of latent demand for a better, more aspirational country. Some days I feel the same about Canada. Unfortunately, in Canada, we use the same American social media with it’s negative contempt promoting algorithms to get our news and views. The Digital News Report says that just over half of Canadians get their news from social media. Fortunately Canadians still overwhelmingly trust homegrown news outlets. In the US, the 2 major news networks reach only about 1% of the population! There, the distrust is orders of magnitude larger.

When I look through my social media feeds, I see my friends and family and my hobbies. It’s all personal because I have always felt that is what it is meant for. The algorithms know that I do not pay any attention to media content, American or Canadian or whatever. Friends, I urge you to do the same. Skip past it, block it, let the algorithm know you’re not interested in them for your source of news and views. If you want to be more aspirational and progressive then go to the sources. Go to the parties’ websites and read their platforms. Don’t put up with anyone calling anybody a “bozo” for his or her views. That just leads down the negative spiral. Go to the legislative records and read the bills for yourselves. Listen or read unbiased media who do the research and consult the experts to help you form an opinion.

I have tried hard in this blog to be respectful. I am the first to admire anyone for being brave enough to put their name forward as a candidate. It takes tremendous courage and strength to stand for public office. I have also tried hard in this blog to show inadequacies in other platforms or legislative doings as an example of how the NDP can do better and not attack anyone personally.

Now that this post is done I need to publish it on our Milton NDP Monday Message blog. Then, unfortunately, I need to put links up on some social media sites. (Sad face emoji). Starting this week I added a ‘subscribe’ gadget. On a computer look to the left. On a smart phone open the menu (upper left), enter your email and click subscribe.

Do this for every other blog you have enjoyed reading in the past. Soon your email will be full of interesting, aspirational and progressive things to read. Hopefully, articles that are researched and easily fact checked. Save your social media feeds for that cute picture of you nephew squirting milk out of his nose or your aunt’s beautiful sunset pic from Acapulco.

“My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.” - Jack Layton

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