U.S. Election Day

[Lord Chrusher]

One thing more true in the US than in other countries is how liberals and conservatives listen, watch and read different media outlets, outlets that agree with their world view. This goes part of the way towards explaining how partisan American politics are.

[Dubious_wolf]

Fair enough, Wolf. Just thought I'd give you some ammunition in case he ever tries again.

No no, I meant no disrespect. For sure, I really appreciate it.

Thankfully it wasn't one of my professors. I was caught in the conversation, between him and a fellow student who does have him. They were going on and on about employment, and the economy and everything else that Obama had done.
I enjoy healthy debate and conversation; this guy, however, was beyond help.

Now this ammo I'll def stock pile for when a more appropriate time comes.

One thing more true in the US than in other countries is how liberals and conservatives listen, watch and read different media outlets, outlets that agree with their world view. This goes part of the way towards explaining how partisan American politics are.

It's so frustrating! I mean I listen to NPR and the BBC while in the car and read the occasional article. I'm not nearly as 'up to date' as I used to be, but every time I listen to a story on the news, or any news coverage. I breath, take a moment, and think, and look at both sides of the issue. If I feel I need more info I seek out the other side of the story. Until I have as clear a view of what's happening. It's difficult to believe how rampant conformation bias is...

[AdmiralMemo]

One thing more true in the US than in other countries is how liberals and conservatives listen, watch and read different media outlets, outlets that agree with their world view. This goes part of the way towards explaining how partisan American politics are.

What We Call The News
5 years old, and still ridiculously relevant.
There used to be just a few sources of news to choose from, and everyone watched them. Sure, they'd disagree on the interpretation of the news, but everyone got the same info.
Now, everyone's tuning into their own news and getting whatever news they want to hear and can easily ignore the other side, because it's not shown on the channel they're watching, and they don't care about it anyway.

[empath]

You might say that the Information Revolution is splintering civilization into small, like-minded enclaves; the American political landscape is just a very visible example of what's happening to human society as a whole... *ponders this*

[JackSlack]

One thing more true in the US than in other countries is how liberals and conservatives listen, watch and read different media outlets, outlets that agree with their world view. This goes part of the way towards explaining how partisan American politics are.

I dunno. You can pretty reliably work out someone's political orientation in the UK, for instance, by looking at if they're carrying The Guardian or The Daily Mail. Out here in Sydney, again, you can take a stab based on if they're reading the Sydney Morning Herald or The Telegraph.

I think the greater story is the much cozier, tight relationship between the parties and the media.

[Lord Chrusher]

Britain is a bit unusual in its wide range of papers.

While I would guess you could say that some one who reads The Age is more likely to vote Labor or Green while a Herald Sun read would vote Liberal I see more of a middle class versus working class split between the Melbourne papers. I could be completely wrong here.

Neither Australia nor Britain has anything quite like Fox News.

[JackSlack]

Or MSNBC. (Which actually was found in a recent study to be even MORE biased than Fox News.) But I maintain its a variance of degree, not kind.

[Drdiggit42]

Or MSNBC. (Which actually was found in a recent study to be even MORE biased than Fox News.) But I maintain its a variance of degree, not kind.

Really? That kind of surprises me. I know MSNBC is very biased, but I always thought Fox was much worse. If you have a link to the study I'd be interested in taking a look at it.

[Lord Hosk]

MSNBC has pretty much given up any pretext of fair and balanced where as Fox entertainment.. I mean news still has a token amount of it, just enough so its viewership can say "see that guy disagrees its not bias"

[JackSlack]

Really? That kind of surprises me. I know MSNBC is very biased, but I always thought Fox was much worse. If you have a link to the study I'd be interested in taking a look at it.

Here you go.

[JackSlack]

Ha! Points to Gov. Nikki Hale (R-S.C) for her brilliant response to Stephen Colbert.

Stephen, thank you for your interest in South Carolina’s U.S. Senate seat and for the thousands of tweets you and your fans sent me.

But you forget one thing, my friend.

You didn’t know our state drink. Big, big mistake.

[Drdiggit42]

Should we perhaps make this the Politics Thread? That would also expand this thread to all politics, not just US politics.

[JackSlack]

I think it's a great idea.

[JackSlack]

Resurrecting this as the politics thread.

I'm very curious to see if this picks up much traction. TL:DR version: The IRS admitted that it misused its power to illegally target Tea Party groups for audits. As Kevin Drum notes, this is a real deal scandal, genuinely something to get outraged over. And there's evidence that the IRS is trying to deflect a larger level scandal.

So, will conservatives get more outraged over this or over made up stuff? I'd like to hope that we get some real focus on this, but a depressed part of me thinks that the scandal here lacks sizzle, and despite it actually being real, it won't be nearly so much a thing.

[empath]

My Inner Cynic™ says this will get buried because it's a REAL scandal.

Pushing him out of the way, My Inner Advocatus Diaboli™ argues that OF COURSE the IRS is going to scrutinize and audit groups that CALL FOR RADICAL TAX REFORM, "what are they trying to hide; if they want to loosen the rules, are they breaking them right now?"

But yeah, this is a SERIOUS black mark on the government and the civil service (an entrenched - and largely appointed - bureaucracy that outlives any given elected official's career or any one administration)...

[Metcarfre]

oh hey i voted today

[Metcarfre]

A good analysis of the current IRS scandal, as ever by Nate Silver.