As a classic liberal myself, I thought the 'anti-liberal' community was entirely wrong. Now, having read through a bunch of stuff around the subject of polarisation (which is also my professional focus), I'm not so sure. There are works on conservatism, writing by Mark Lilla on fellow liberals, the work of Shelly Turkle on reclaiming conversation - all of which point to the fact that maybe there's a lot to be gained from listening closely to the other side.
On Sidin's point that many really rude people are often nice in person, I fully agree. Have had some run-ins online with a CEO of a really well known conservative magazine in India, and when I met him at Talk Journalism in Jaipur this year, I was stunned by how personable and humble he is. I realised we have far more in common than I let myself believe. On Tue, Nov 14, 2017 at 7:27 PM, Deepa Mohan <[email protected]> wrote: > I am finding, as I age, that I have few hard-and-fast opinions. One opinion > I firmly have is that I cannot apply blanket rules for holding an opinion, > Situations, and their causes and effects, change so much. Morality changes. > What I read, and how it is presented, has changed so much. I have a bottle > of salt nearby to take a pinch of, with today's frenetic headlines! > > Appa and Ammalogy for top posting. I'm typing, and doing most other things, > single-handedly and that's changed some of my opinions,too. (on > ambidexterity, whether children should be taught this or not, and how the > adult brain adjusts to using the "wrong" hand). > > On Tue, Nov 14, 2017 at 6:05 PM, Nima Srinivasan <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > Since my areas of interest (and work) have been people and how FB > operates, > > the bubbles weren't really a surprise. It's something we've known since > at > > least 2007. I've always tried to make sure that whatever information I > get, > > I review for its leaning and lenses. To me, it's less about what I think > > and feel and more about why people who think X, think X. Then I seek out > > the opposite view. For every Shehla Rashid, I'll follow a Shefali > Vaidya. I > > also try to get sensible people in the middle. That way I've anchored > both > > ends and tries to assess the middle of the curve on that issue. > > > > To me, it's less about me changing my opinion because I give my own stand > > far less weight. What I think about caste is less important to me than > what > > caste is as a construct. Which again means I need to make sure that I > cover > > all points of view from caste-centric groups with a massive persecution > > complex all the way to caste-bashers/haters in pro > Ambedkar/Periyar/Adivasi > > groups and also reading first hand accounts by people who grew up in the > > eye of that storm. I see that spectrum of why it is so as getting richer > > rather than me coming to a final position. > > > > And when I do firmly lean one way - which I do say in the case of > abortion > > - I like to be clear as to why I feel that way but make sure I know > > precisely why there are those who firmly oppose it. I also rarely ever > try > > to convert anyone's point of view - that's neither relevant nor > interesting > > to me. Unless I'm collecting insights for a brand and getting paid to do > it > > - in which case I'll make sure I know how to change a person's position > on > > something. On social media - I prefer that all the diversity and extremes > > exist as they do. I just wish people would be a little nicer to each > other. > > Which is my John Lennon self talking. > > > > On Tue, Nov 14, 2017 at 5:29 PM, Udhay Shankar N <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > > I've been thinking about the whole issue of 'filter bubbles' and their > > > various effects, including the death of serendipity, the inability to > see > > > things (like e.g Trump) until they hit you in the face and, more > > > philosophically, cutting oneself off from many potentially interesting > > > people and ideas. > > > > > > How do people here deal with this? As a start point, when was teh last > > time > > > you changed your opinion on something non-trivial, and how did that > come > > > about? > > > > > > Udhay > > > > > > -- > > > > > > ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com)) > > > > > > -- H R Venkatesh ICFJ Knight Fellow Founder, NetaData <http://www.netadata.in> Co-organiser, Hacks/Hackers New Delhi Ph: +91 9811824503 Twitter: @hrvenkatesh
