Did 24 hours of pure Conservative & Liberal media outlets change my perspective?
By: Deni Valchev
The more I talk to people the more I realize that politics is usually a topic best left behind. But why? Is it because people are afraid to say what’s really on their minds? Maybe it’s fear of getting “cancelled” because their viewpoint doesn’t match that of the majority? Well, it’s both of those and so much more.
I say screw it, let’s talk some politics!
I found over the years that my political views have generally aligned with a moderate/centrist perspective. I’m basically Trudeau in between Obama and Enrique Nieto in the gif above but agreeing with both political sides. I lean more to the left when it comes to topics like abortion & same-sex rights or renewable energy incentives. Yet, I lean more to the right when it comes to topics like not taxing the rich a higher percentage, privatizing certain sectors and cutting corporate taxes.
Now here’s where the cool part begins! In my Social Media class, I’m taking at Ryerson University, we were challenged to expose ourselves to the furthest opposing viewpoint from our own. Since I find myself to be in the centre, my analysis will centre around 2 opposing viewpoints to particular issues I’m quite firm about and a general conclusion from my experience/findings. Let’s get started!
Opposing POV: Socialist/Liberal: The Economy
In the past 24–48 hours, I dug through over 20 articles on extreme left-wing news outlets like the Wonkette, Truthout, AlterNet, etc. I read some from the begging of the year up to yesterday and saw a trend in topics related to the economy. Numerous articles kept alluding too how ‘evil’ the rich are and moving towards socialism might just be the only answer/cure to save all American’s (can be Canadians as well) from the unfair advantages of capitalism. As I’m personally a believer that capitalism has given people from all backgrounds, unfortunately, some more than others, the opportunity to create a business, employ others and grow, it’s no lie it’s also had numerous negative effects.
The root objective for any businessperson (black, gay, refugee, rich, poor, etc.) is to make capital. Without a focus on capital, you’re either a charity or a non-profit business. The problem I see in these articles is the continuous focus on promoting socialism as the be all end all or one-sided negative opinions that rich people and big companies are to be always blamed. These are totally opposite views from my own because ex. I believe taxing the rich or corporations leads to less capital to reinvest into hiring people, improving products/services, having a healthy return on investment, etc (hence my trickle-down economics gif, brah!). AlterNet, a heavily left-leaning news outlet, continuously perpetuates a negative image on how corporations are exercising their rights to use tax law to their advantage. In the article, “Under Trump’s tax bill, workers pay higher rates than corporations”, there’s a continuous negative tone of blaming companies that are able to get a reduction in taxes due to capital losses and how using their competitive advantage has lead to continuous disadvantages for the lower class.
I’m always open to different viewpoints and perspectives however, there was a problem that came up when I was looking at these sites.
In my subjective perspective, it’s completely biased/one-sided. A ton of articles, whether they’re dealing with the economy or a congressman/woman’s reaction to a motion or event seems to be phrased as the best and only solution to a problem. As many are reactions to something, it seems that even though it’s well-intentioned and “for the greater good” it comes across as too narrow-minded and completely ignorant to other viewpoints, something a lot of extreme right-wing platforms do as well. Collectively, I valued the difference in opinion compared to my own, however, the level of extremity at times was uncalled for.
Opposing POV: Right Wing: Donald J. Trump
Ah yes, the 45th president of the United States. I originally wanted to explore climate change as an opposing viewpoint, however, I found that even on extreme right-wing platforms there wasn’t any huge difference in the style of reportage. So of course, I took the easy way out and decided to talk about the easiest difference that sets apart left vs. right-winged news outlets, Trump.
In the article, “How Trump Restored the Principles of Welfare Reform and Lifted Americans Out of Poverty” on The Daily Signal, it’s heavily referred to that the “Trump administration took welfare reform seriously.” Looking at this specific article and other similar ones, it’s apparent that there’s a strong position of favouring Trump’s actions. In contrast, even looking at the title of the VOX article, “Trump wants to slash welfare with stricter work requirements”, shows how a different title can perpetuate a different mood/tone to the overall depiction of Trump’s activities/decisions. The article also cites that “The White House is citing faulty evidence that work requirements work,” which is interesting to see compared to The Daily Signal article. I found that favouritism is a major difference in my personal viewpoints towards Trump compared to the various right-wing news channels I visited: The Daily Signal, Newspunch, The Westetc. in the past 24–48 hours.
I found numerous articles continuously showing Trump and his administration in a positive light. If there was a debate against him it would be taken out on the mainstream media or ‘the left/democrats’: “Democrats in congress…already have tried — and failed — in their attempt to impeach and remove the president.” To tie this my class discussions, it becomes very easy for people to be persuaded by the information they read and especially due to the level of consistency these news outlets use. I would say in the 24–48 hours as I was exposing myself to these extreme-right media channels, I noticed how heavily they pump out pro-Trump content and how easily they’ll attack another individual for being ‘wrong’ or going against their status quo. I find it easy to fall into the ‘trap’ of only reading what one party/company wants you to read and then it becomes everything you expect to read going forward.
Final Thoughts?
I’d like to outline something I’ve noticed in the differences between left and right-wing media outlets in the past 24–48 hours. I went into this thinking I would see extremist viewpoints, stories which are polar opposite and generally, everything would grind my gears, however, it’s a lot more subtle than that. Thus, making it more dangerous and effective for manipulation.
It’s an absence of information.
The absence of information is what makes these news outlets so biased and convincing to the reader. They all make relatively good points and back up their arguments with commentary and data, however, almost always seem to be forgetting to add the opposing view or play ‘devil’s advocate’. The term, “echo chamber” is defined by an individual’s continuous consumption of the repeated same point of view and perspective, mostly based on algorithmic performance. These past 24–48 hours have really opened up my mind to realize the importance of needing to get one’s source of news and formulate opinions from various news sources. Whether it be right, left or a moderate POV or maybe even what’s written inside trade & scientific journals, the more one exposes themselves to different perspectives, the better they can formulate a more thorough opinion/argument.
So was my perspective changed?
Collectively, my viewpoints have been challenged by reading more intense perspectives than I am used too. I see that the absence of information can really shape and shift an individual’s mind because usually what’s written in those articles is very convincing. If one gets trapped in their own echo chamber or continuous commitment to reading only one news source, they risk falling victim to a one-sided perspective. Finally, I’ll say that I still heavily lean towards the centre, I have beliefs which align with the left and the right, however, not to the extremist or propaganda-driven news outlets.
Well, I hope this blog/analysis was rewarding for you (the readers) and provided you with a variety of insights. These past 24–48 hours have been interesting and quite fun, to say the least, I was able to expose myself to other viewpoints and get a good laugh at how some of these articles are written.
All citations are the underlined embedded links.
-Deni Valchev