this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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Is creating echo chambers really desirable in our current political climate? Democracy is built on a foundation of free and open discourse, not in censoring opinions that we don't agree with. All that does is polarize and radicalize people even more.
It's not about an echo chamber. There are some instances that say the same few things without being reasonable. They're just political slogans and myths with little bearing on reality. If they were reasonable, sure. It'd be fine. They will take things out of context and when you provide context that goes against it they find something else to attack and act like it never happened. It's not useful and just makes it harder to see other things.
The entire principle of reasonability lies on accepting that other interpretations of facts exist. Removing those who question the prevailing interpretation is harmful for democracy, harmful for journalism, and harmful for freedom of speech.
Sure, there are other interpretations. There's also ignoring facts as they stand. That's as harmful as anything else.
Sometimes it's not useful to hear certain opinions. I don't care about the opinion that thinks the covid vaccine makes you magnetic, which they subsequently can't verify. It's not useful and most likely harmful. It makes my experience worse while providing nothing. If I can choose to not have that opinion heard, I will. It is not helping me get a better understanding of the world and is only making my experience worse.
How do you define the usefulness of opinions?
If it's conducive to having a better understanding of reality probably.
The "covid vaccine makes you magnetic" opinion that I used in the example does not. Their beliefs are based in fairy tales and they don't care to question it, or if they do they somehow convince themselves that when it doesn't agree with they're beliefs that they're somehow still right.