Blog prompt #4: Is Polarization a Bad Thing?

Is Polarization a Bad Thing?

One of the issues Ronald Jacobs and Eleanor Townsley address in their book The Space of Opinion is the popular fear that the sort of partisan narrative and views aired cable opinions shows are contributing to polarization:

To the extent that these kinds of narratives reinforce the partisan political identification of viewers, and to the extent that they encourage those viewers to see the opposing party as morally weak or even evil, then it becomes more difficult to organize a public dialogue built around mutual respect, trust or openness.

      While these patterns are certainly problematic and justify much of the public concern that has been expressed about the growing influence of the cable news networks, we think it would be a mistake to simply condemn the newer formats. The audience for cable television's opinion shows has different levels of knowledge and media engagement than its general news audience...(Jacobs and Townsley 238).

What do you think? Are the "newer formats"-- the O'Reilly Factor, Hannity and Colmes, The Daily Show, The Rachel Maddow Show, etc.-- contributing to political polarization and a breakdown of dialogue and mutual respect across America's various ideological divides?  

            I do not think the political polarization that is present in our society today was nonexistent in the past. I think because of the surplus of public forums it is easy for people to seek out only opinions they want to hear (confirmation bias). Thus the political polarization, in part, has always been part of society. Now that there is a slew of different ‘new format’ shows, radio podcasts, etc. which use a satirical and sometimes exaggerated view. Since we have so many ways that enable us to be narrow-minded, it is no surprise that the increase in popularity of these types of media certainly influences the breakdown of discussion and trust that is needed for effective dialogue.

Or, does such programming actually raise the level of knowledge and the political engagement of its audiences?

            In some ways I can see that this programming could be beneficial to society in terms of gaining awareness. The issue, however, lies in the way the media portrays situations, especially politics at this time. While it could engage people more, I think the distinct bias for more of these media platforms makes it clear that it is not necessarily raising public knowledge (effectively).

Could the popularity of such shows actually be good for democracy?

            The shows are popular because they focus on mocking our culture or using skits to try and understand the world around us. I see the benefits of this, and acknowledge that giving the public information that is easy to understand is better than receiving no information at all.