By their innocence and goodness, by their boundless capacity for forgiveness, and by the sheer power of their faith and hope, children redeem their parents, bringing out their best selves.
Cass SunsteinRead
Research shows that if people are talking and listening to like-minded others, they become more dogmatic, more unified, and more extreme. Personalized Facebook experiences are a breeding ground for misunderstanding and miscommunication across political lines and, ultimately, for extremism.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights how like-minded conversations can lead to extreme views and misunderstandings in political discourse.
Cass Sunstein emphasizes the dangers of surrounding oneself with like-minded individuals, particularly in online spaces like Facebook. He argues that such environments create echo chambers that reinforce dogmatic beliefs, foster greater unity among similar thinkers, and ultimately escalate extremism, leading to a breakdown in communication and understanding across different viewpoints.
Themes
Echo ChamberExtremismCommunicationMisunderstandingPolitics
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about social media's impact on politics, this quote can highlight the importance of diverse viewpoints.
More from Cass Sunstein
All quotes →If a company has acted badly, people want to punish it - not in order to deter future misconduct, but simply because they're outraged. And the more outraged they are, the more punishment they want to inflict.
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It can be easy and tempting, especially during a presidential campaign, to listen only to opinions that mirror and fortify one's own. That's not ideal, because it eliminates learning and makes it impossible for people to understand what they dismiss as 'the other side.'
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If the air quality is terrible in Los Angeles, if a particular university is unusually expensive, if crime is on the rise in Dallas, or if a company has a lot of recalled toys, transparency can spur change. Whenever public or private institutions have to answer to the public, their performance is likely to improve.
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Facebook seems to think that it would be liberating if everyone's News Feed could be personalized so that people see only and exactly what they want. Don't believe it. That's a prison.
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