Apparently, all of you people out there aren’t reading much that disagrees with positions you already hold. At least this is the conclusion reached by Eric Lawrence, John Sides, and Henry Farrell in the latest issue of Perspectives on Politics.
Are you just being lazy or did you try it for awhile and realize that reading something written from the opposite side of the political spectrum made you too angry every morning?
My Google Reader subscriptions tally to 1,769 feeds. While I cannot give an accurate calculation of the ratio of various political spectrums nor guarantee that’s an even 1:1:1:1 ratio, I can assure you that reflected in the contents are voices from all political persuasions. From radical Chomsky loving leftists to paleo-conservatives at the American Conservative. From adulatory Ludwig von Mises lovers at Lew Rockwell to up and coming hopeful conservatives at the Next Right. From liberal leanings by Ezra Klein and Paul Krugman to the crunchy Cons at Front Porch Republic. From the staunchly conservative neo-reformed Christian crowd to progressive people of the way.
About the only material I actively discriminate against is the Jay Rosen termed “church of the savvy” stylings of mainstream pundits like David Broder, Richard Cohen, George Will, etc.… Or the party propaganda orchestrated and espoused by loyal apparatchiks, on either side of the American party duopoly.
But, then, I’m such a political outcast that I find some level of agreement and disagreement in just about everything I read.
Before you can tear down an argument, you must be able to deconstruct it. And to deconstruct it, means you must learn and study it first. To see the perspective from an devoted, heartfelt advocate of such a plank.
