(no subject)

[timelets]

I wonder whether this is a consequence of politics as entertainment reinforced by social networking. We know from sports that intense rivalries boost ticket sales and opposing sides spend major efforts to incite their fans against the "other team." In addition, in a social networking environment fan engagement is a key indicator for measuring success of a marketing campaign. Intensity x Reach -> Sales

The survey by Pew Research Center was conducted Sept. 3-15 among 9,895 adults (it was completed before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Sept. 24 announcement of an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump). It finds that both Republicans and Democrats express negative views about several traits and characteristics of those in the opposing party, and in some cases these opinions have grown more negative since 2016.

https://www.people-press.org/2019/10/10/partisan-antipathy-more-intense-more-personal/

Comments

[chuka_lis]

показательно, да.

[tijd]

I blame the perpetual "horserace" narrative in the media. There is no symmetry between the two parties, yet the narrative continues.



The Republican Party leans much farther right than most traditional conservative parties in Western Europe and Canada, according to an analysis of their election manifestos. It is more extreme than Britain’s Independence Party and France’s National Rally (formerly the National Front), which some consider far-right populist parties. The Democratic Party, in contrast, is positioned closer to mainstream liberal parties.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/26/opinion/sunday/republican-platform-far-right.html

[peristaltor]

I also consider influential the money dumped into US political publishing starting in the 1970s, that led to key erosion of progressive agenda points; the erosion of journalism started in that same period, which led to the shedding of a vast percentage of journalists.

That last effort to reduce actual shoe leather gathering stories forced the existing workforce to concentrate on inconsequential story angles such as the destructive and divisive horse race coverage.

Also, there is substantial evidence that this lay off effort, which started with the more progressive journalists fired first, began well before the 2008 bust. It was well underway in the early '90s. I theorize that Watergate, the Church Committee, and other purges in wealthy political intersections, motivated the wealthy (which, of course, own the newspapers) to reduce reporter ranks in order to do what they want without as much fear of detection. For evidence of its long-term effectiveness, witness the Duke Cunningham prosecution, which was only the tip of the crapburg. The prosecutions stopped after W. fired the attorneys general just as the same investigation that got Cunningham was ramping up.