PDF One Nation Two Realities Dueling Facts in American Democracy Morgan Marietta David C Barker 9780190677176 Books
Download As PDF : One Nation Two Realities Dueling Facts in American Democracy Morgan Marietta David C Barker 9780190677176 Books
The deep divides that define politics in the United States are not restricted to policy or even cultural differences anymore. Americans no longer agree on basic questions of fact. Is climate change real? Does racism still determine who gets ahead? Is sexual orientation innate? Do immigration and free trade help or hurt the economy? Does gun control reduce violence? Are false convictions common?
Employing several years of original survey data and experiments, Marietta and Barker reach a number of enlightening and provocative conclusions dueling fact perceptions are not so much a product of hyper-partisanship or media propaganda as they are of simple value differences and deepening distrust of authorities. These duels foster social contempt, even in the workplace, and they warp the electorate. The educated -- on both the right and the left -- carry the biggest guns and are the quickest to draw. And finally, fact-checking and other proposed remedies don't seem to holster too many weapons; they can even add bullets to the chamber. Marietta and Barker's pessimistic conclusions will challenge idealistic reformers.
PDF One Nation Two Realities Dueling Facts in American Democracy Morgan Marietta David C Barker 9780190677176 Books
"**An original MUST READ book to understand the American mind in the 21st Century**
Something has been going wrong in American politics. The way we communicate to each other has become less respectful, more tribal. We seem to have less common ground. Worse, it just seems like we're not able to learn from each other, compromise, and cherry pick the best parts of opposing arguments.
The value of this book is it is not about our elites (politicians/media). It's about us. It's about how human beings with different values come to see reality. And we're just not seeing the same reality. Before you can constructfully do something about a problem in the world, you have to agree what the problem is.
Marietta and Barker have produced the first robust evidence on the polarization of American’s beliefs. But, the focus is on the individual, how one comes to have a belief about what is a fact. We naturally think that whatever we might *hope* to be true, that hope doesn't impact whether or not we determine it *is* true. We know that we have different values. But, we think that whatever our values, the truth is the truth, even if it’s inconvenient.
The terrifying argument of this book is that, we are compromised in our ability to see reality. Our brains are not truth gathering engines. And the authors elaborate the pathways in which we become biased toward or away from accepting something as true.
The book is pessimistic on whether we can correct these problems, although there is illuminating discussion of the mostly likely solutions (education, fact checking) and their effectiveness. My only criticism is that although you may be pessimistic on a societal level, this book can help your thinking if you take the challenge seriously.
Orwell said, “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.†This work shows why Orwell was right, but also arms you with the tools to take on that struggle. An individual can not remind themselves often enough of all the ways they can be blinded to accepting truth. This is important intellectually, but also personally.
My grandmother and grandfather never voted for the same Presidential candidate, but they loved each other for 56 years. After the last few elections, I'm afraid we can't even have a coffee with a friend who belongs to the "wrong" half of America. The best result of this book might be to help you go have that coffee and understand yourself and your loved ones better. You can realize we're all human and prone to error, and be a little easier on someone seeing a different fact about the world (and take on a little more healthy self-criticism!)."
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Tags : One Nation, Two Realities Dueling Facts in American Democracy [Morgan Marietta, David C. Barker] on . The deep divides that define politics in the United States are not restricted to policy or even cultural differences anymore. Americans no longer agree on basic questions of fact. Is climate change real? Does racism still determine who gets ahead? Is sexual orientation innate? Do immigration and free trade help or hurt the economy? Does gun control reduce violence? Are false convictions common? Employing several years of original survey data and experiments,Morgan Marietta, David C. Barker,One Nation, Two Realities Dueling Facts in American Democracy,Oxford University Press,0190677171,Non-Fiction,POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / General,POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / General,PSYCHOLOGY / Social Psychology,Psychology,Psychology | Social,UNIVERSITY PRESS,United States
One Nation Two Realities Dueling Facts in American Democracy Morgan Marietta David C Barker 9780190677176 Books Reviews :
One Nation Two Realities Dueling Facts in American Democracy Morgan Marietta David C Barker 9780190677176 Books Reviews
- **An original MUST READ book to understand the American mind in the 21st Century**
Something has been going wrong in American politics. The way we communicate to each other has become less respectful, more tribal. We seem to have less common ground. Worse, it just seems like we're not able to learn from each other, compromise, and cherry pick the best parts of opposing arguments.
The value of this book is it is not about our elites (politicians/media). It's about us. It's about how human beings with different values come to see reality. And we're just not seeing the same reality. Before you can constructfully do something about a problem in the world, you have to agree what the problem is.
Marietta and Barker have produced the first robust evidence on the polarization of American’s beliefs. But, the focus is on the individual, how one comes to have a belief about what is a fact. We naturally think that whatever we might *hope* to be true, that hope doesn't impact whether or not we determine it *is* true. We know that we have different values. But, we think that whatever our values, the truth is the truth, even if it’s inconvenient.
The terrifying argument of this book is that, we are compromised in our ability to see reality. Our brains are not truth gathering engines. And the authors elaborate the pathways in which we become biased toward or away from accepting something as true.
The book is pessimistic on whether we can correct these problems, although there is illuminating discussion of the mostly likely solutions (education, fact checking) and their effectiveness. My only criticism is that although you may be pessimistic on a societal level, this book can help your thinking if you take the challenge seriously.
Orwell said, “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.†This work shows why Orwell was right, but also arms you with the tools to take on that struggle. An individual can not remind themselves often enough of all the ways they can be blinded to accepting truth. This is important intellectually, but also personally.
My grandmother and grandfather never voted for the same Presidential candidate, but they loved each other for 56 years. After the last few elections, I'm afraid we can't even have a coffee with a friend who belongs to the "wrong" half of America. The best result of this book might be to help you go have that coffee and understand yourself and your loved ones better. You can realize we're all human and prone to error, and be a little easier on someone seeing a different fact about the world (and take on a little more healthy self-criticism!).
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