This Was Not Easy
For ~12 hours, replace your news sources with ones that are furthest from your views. The more directly opposed to your views, the better. For instance, if you get your news from CNN, swap it out for FOX. Explain why you chose your selection of media. Then, unpack the impact of those news sources on your life during that 48 hour period.
I completed half a minor in Political Science before changing universities. I thought this was going to be easy. I really truly did. Until I started prepping for this blog post, that is. The first thing I did was to just scroll through Twitter and just take inventory of every single article that popped up on my timeline, no matter what. So at first, it was a lot of Playbill articles, TV-related articles, and a few more LGBTQ focused news articles. Then came the CNN. The HuffPo (I’m cool and informed so I call it the HuffPo). Vulture. And so on.
The second thing I did was log into this Medium account. Which I haven’t done since the end of October 2016. Remember the end of October 2016? I do. It was right before November 2016, which I remember too well. Anyways, this is what my profile looked liked:
Yeah.
Who doesn’t love political meme culture?
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See, I tend to think of my self as left wing, but not by any extreme measure. I was a big Clinton supporter (Hillary, but Bill is okay too I guess.) For certain not right-wing, but also not some corporate lib. (Which yes, from the info I’ve shared so far I’m not sure I believe either.). I have my values and I’m just me. But I guess it’s not hard to peg me down on a spectrum either.
So I guess it was time to replace the CNN, Vulture, and HuffPo with Fox News, The Daily Wire, and Breitbart. The only thing I didn’t change is probably my favorite daily source of news, The Philip DeFranco show on YouTube. Something I consider decently center- a show that examines stories from multiple sources and the host straight up tells you when he is giving his opinion. Phil also encourages conversation and debate from both sides. It’s a show I really respect- even when I disagree with it and couldn’t really find it’s polar opposite.
Now, I have ventured on to all these mentioned sources at least once or twice before. I knew what I was getting into. I know who’s writing for these and who runs them. I’ve watched interviews with Ben Shapiro and gone through the Daily Wire and seen clips from Fox. I knew what kind of stories were going to be covered and how.
Sometimes, but not all the time, when you try to silence someone, it can give the illusion of you being scared of what they have to say. I generally like knowing how those I disagree with think and structure arguments- that way you can know what you’re talking about and how to disagree with them in the most tactical way. But at the same time, there are really impressionable people who take everything at face value. I know I have more commonly used sources, but I love to research the big ones- try and find the facts from all sides to see what matches up. And I do find there are people I tend to agree with often. But I think that’s just human nature.
Though stories on the sites in my 12 hours are factual and true (sometimes) and some were just blatantly wrong and opinion only presented as fact, I read somewhere the facts were laid out and that’s it. Hell, I even agreed on some opinion based things. Yes, black-face is bad, and yes the articles were framed as more as a hit on democrats but I think the main point is black-face is bad and you shouldn’t do it. We should all agree on that.
But a lot of the issues covered on these sites are issues that can hit home (Or any ‘human’ story really- my mom says I’m very empathetic). It’s all about the personal takes- that author’s opinion. Some takes gave me headaches. There were points where I would read stories that really hurt me in a personal way. Maybe I am just a snowflake but I don’t think many people enjoy reading that someone who doesn’t know you sees you as less than human. It’s dangerous rhetoric. It’s harmful. One thing I refuse to take is the whole “You have to be tolerant of my intolerance.” That’s where I draw my line.
I lived in a swing state during summer 2016. I am familiar with both extremes. I’ve lived and worked with both (In Nova Scotia, Florida, and Toronto). I have friends who are both. I can learn from everyone. I can understand where people are coming from. I don’t have to like it or agree with it. I just want the facts to inform my own decisions.
“Even a broken clock is right twice a day.” -My dad to me, quite frequently
