Worse, the institutions that are meant to remedy misperceptions, from universities to news outlets, may actually make them worse.
Me @TheAtlantic
[Short Thread.]
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
So... why do we hate the other side so much?
According to a new study by @MiC_Global, a big part of the reason is that we falsely ascribe extreme opinions to our adversaries.
Depressingly, the data implies the opposite: The more Americans know, and the fancier their degree, the more they are likely to caricature their opponents.
Republicans who dropped out of high school, for example, have a bigger perception gap than those with a postgraduate degree.
But it does suggest that these institutions are, at best, highly ineffective in attenuating it (and may, at worst, actively compound it).
It is deeply worrying that Americans now have so little understanding of their political adversaries.
It is downright disturbing that the very institutions that ought to help us become better informed may actually be deepening our mutual incomprehension.
[End.]
perceptiongap.us
But even if you strongly prefer the views of one side, as I do, you should be worried about our tendency to caricature the positions of the other side.
Is that so hard to see?