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Christopher P. Hahn, Ph.D.
Constructive Agreement, LLC
<mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]
P.O. Box 39, Bozeman, MT 59771
(406) 522-4143 (406) 556-7116 fax
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From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dr. Ernie Prabhakar
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2011 10:04 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [RC] The Value of Research
HI Chris,
On Nov 17, 2011, at 8:01 AM, Chris Hahn wrote:
What the country needs is more thoughtful discourse at a deeper level (like
on this list). Unfortunately, with the Twitterization of our media and
society, we seem to be headed the other direction.
I don't see it that way. Once, the blogosphere is if anything *more*
thoughtful than what preceded it. Two, while I agree 24-hour cable has had
a shallowing effect, it also has had a broadening affect -- before we only
had access to a very few, highly selective and undoubtedly biased
viewpoints, even if some of them were well thought through.
Reply from CH: I would say to this, it depends. If you are interested in
searching for more thoughtful content, it is definitely in the blogosphere,
but I think there is a trend to more compartmentalized thinking that is
easily reinforced in the e-world and on cable TV. It is easier for us to
see what we want to see and live in our prejudiced bubbles... Fox News or
MSNBC, and get our online info from equivalent "trusted" sources.
Okay, back in the days of Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite and
Huntley/Brinkley we did have a limited number of sources, and there was
certainly bias in their presentations, but these sources at least pretended
to be reliable presenters of the news. Now, people can select narrowcasted
sources of "news" that reinforces polarized thinking.
Again, for the seeker of broad-based information this is a wonderful new
world, but I fear that too-few people are seeking breadth.
Finally, I have great hopes for Deliberative Polling, which is designed
precisely to overcome the shallowness of surface thoughts:
Deliberative Polling: Toward a Better-Informed Democracy
<http://cdd.stanford.edu/polls/docs/summary/>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deliberative_opinion_poll
Deliberative polling looks great. I hope it gets off the ground in a
meaningful way.
-- Ernie P.
--
Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community
<[email protected]>
Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism
Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
--
Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community
<[email protected]>
Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism
Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
