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defrogI get press releases.
Sometimes they are about pseudoscientific polls.
The “collateral damage” involves relationships with friends, family members and/or co-workers – three out of five respondents to the poll say they’ve had such relationships damaged by talking politics. Around 14% say the damage is permanent.
And so:
Now, leaving aside the fact that this poll is from a company pushing corporate training products to improve interdepartmental communication and team-building, this kind of thing is easy to believe – especially if you spend any amount of time on Facebook. Or if you watch a lot of Fox News.
I can tell you from my own experience that when I go back to the states, I stay off politics as much as possible, although that’s partly because:
(1) For most of the Bush II admin, I was on the wrong side of the Socially Acceptable Political Opinion divide (i.e. I opposed the war and thought Gitmo, the Patriot Act and TSA no-fly lists were terrible, dangerous and useless ideas). No one wanted to hear about that for at least the first five years after 9/11 – not when the official White House/DOJ/DHS position was “If yr not with us, yr an honorary member of Al Qaeda, and if you know anyone like that, let us know”. And:
(2) The Fox News/MSNBC/Daily Kos/Breitbart/talk radio hyperpartisan echo chamber seemed to be expanding the reality gap between the two sides into batshit territory, and who wants to risk getting caught up in an argument with one of THOSE people?
However … there’s a lot this kind of poll doesn’t tell me. For example, how much of this is new? How would this compare to, say, 20 years ago? Or before Vietnam? Have we always been this insane about politics, or is this a recent development?
Which leads to the other missing point: how much of this being gun-shy about politics is the result of social media making it easier to get into toxic arguments?
I ask because one thing I’ve noticed is that, overall, the way people talk about politics online is a lot different from the way people talk about it face to face. Maybe it’s because I’ve never met the kind of people who show up at Tea Party rallies – or people who take Glenn Beck and Chuck Norris seriously – but that feared screaming match that I often dread actually never happens. Not even if I make a political remark in a public place where other people can hear me.
Which gets me to thinking that social media has been a major influence (alongside things like cable TV news) in shaping people’s perceptions of the nature and risks of political discourse – and amplifying them.
Or, again, maybe it’s just made us more hyperaware of something that’s been around for most of American history.
Either way, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was something to this survey – not that political discussions in themselves are risky in 2012, but that the majority of people in America THINK they are.
TRY IT AT HOME: The press release also gives some tips on how to have a productive political discussion. They’re good in theory, but in practice I don’t imagine too many people will follow them. And of course they're useless for Facebook rants.
No time to argue,
This is dF
Sometimes they are about pseudoscientific polls.
The “collateral damage” involves relationships with friends, family members and/or co-workers – three out of five respondents to the poll say they’ve had such relationships damaged by talking politics. Around 14% say the damage is permanent.
And so:
The study of more than 500 people found that only 15 percent of respondents believe they can express their full political views to others without getting upset. So, rather than risk an emotional verbal battle, 86 percent avoid political discussions and one in 10 report they stay away from political banter at all costs.
Now, leaving aside the fact that this poll is from a company pushing corporate training products to improve interdepartmental communication and team-building, this kind of thing is easy to believe – especially if you spend any amount of time on Facebook. Or if you watch a lot of Fox News.
I can tell you from my own experience that when I go back to the states, I stay off politics as much as possible, although that’s partly because:
(1) For most of the Bush II admin, I was on the wrong side of the Socially Acceptable Political Opinion divide (i.e. I opposed the war and thought Gitmo, the Patriot Act and TSA no-fly lists were terrible, dangerous and useless ideas). No one wanted to hear about that for at least the first five years after 9/11 – not when the official White House/DOJ/DHS position was “If yr not with us, yr an honorary member of Al Qaeda, and if you know anyone like that, let us know”. And:
(2) The Fox News/MSNBC/Daily Kos/Breitbart/talk radio hyperpartisan echo chamber seemed to be expanding the reality gap between the two sides into batshit territory, and who wants to risk getting caught up in an argument with one of THOSE people?
However … there’s a lot this kind of poll doesn’t tell me. For example, how much of this is new? How would this compare to, say, 20 years ago? Or before Vietnam? Have we always been this insane about politics, or is this a recent development?
Which leads to the other missing point: how much of this being gun-shy about politics is the result of social media making it easier to get into toxic arguments?
I ask because one thing I’ve noticed is that, overall, the way people talk about politics online is a lot different from the way people talk about it face to face. Maybe it’s because I’ve never met the kind of people who show up at Tea Party rallies – or people who take Glenn Beck and Chuck Norris seriously – but that feared screaming match that I often dread actually never happens. Not even if I make a political remark in a public place where other people can hear me.
Which gets me to thinking that social media has been a major influence (alongside things like cable TV news) in shaping people’s perceptions of the nature and risks of political discourse – and amplifying them.
Or, again, maybe it’s just made us more hyperaware of something that’s been around for most of American history.
Either way, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was something to this survey – not that political discussions in themselves are risky in 2012, but that the majority of people in America THINK they are.
TRY IT AT HOME: The press release also gives some tips on how to have a productive political discussion. They’re good in theory, but in practice I don’t imagine too many people will follow them. And of course they're useless for Facebook rants.
No time to argue,
This is dF
