You don’t have to be an astute observer of America today to conclude we are a divided people in the extreme. The cord of shared traditional American values that have fostered respect across party and ideological lines is hanging on its last bit of frayed thread. Educational institutions have played a big role in creating this divide. They have been taken over by the left, and both openly and subliminally exposed our children to a politicized education leaning dramatically in one direction. Here’s a hint: it’s not in the direction of the American founding values of liberty, limited government, a color blind society and property rights.
There are two Americas. Each tends to live in a bubble dominated by people of like mind. With the vast majority of “news” outlets taking sides rather then reporting the news. It is very easy to live in a left-wing world without opinion diversity.
New Yorkers, Angelinos, Bostonians and Seattleites,the coastal elite population centers kvel in their isolation. They don’t read conservative journals, columnists, authors or watch conservative outlets. From kindergarten through graduate school the vast majority of the social science/humanities teachers come armed with leftist instincts. Most are secular and those that do attend religious institutions go to temples and churches that have replaced scripture with a Democrat and/or Green playbook. These people see themselves as worldly, egalitarian, tolerant and open-minded. When in fact they are among the least open-minded, tolerant and egalitarian. Their circle might include a variety of colors but they expose themselves to little if any thoughtful opinion or ideological diversity.
One’s race should represent nothing of significance. Where we find the world viewed through a racial lens we find racism. That has been the hallmark of the “diversity” movement. But the only diversity of any value should be opinion diversity. Melanin is merely a physical characteristic. The coastal and academic cocoons have little or none of what really counts in terms of genuine intellectual inquiry-diversity. The obnoxious sense of moral superiority of the coastal hoity toity was on full display the evening a rainbow of Hamilton actors with not a spec of opinion diversity felt the need to lecture Vice President Pence, while taking his daughters to the theater.
Many in the heartland also live in bubbles. Their communities, churches and Internet sources are chosen as modes for reinforcement rather the expansion of perspective.
However the coastal leftist bubble is far better insulated. Even if heartland kids are home schooled and parents frequent Brietbart and Drudge elements of left-wing propaganda seeps into their lives. Most newspapers on and off-line lean to the left. The songs kids listen to are loaded with left-wing messages. The movies drip with left-wing propaganda. Conservatives have far more exposure to the left then leftists to conservatives and conservative values.
In other words even if conservatives want to isolate themselves their bubble will be regularly pierced with ideas and perspectives that give them opinion diversity. They know the left. The left does not know them. So ironically heartland conservatives are far more likely to have exposure to other perspectives. Who are the real egalitarians?
Most leftists go no deeper then to label those on the right as uninformed, close-minded bigots of every sort. That simple-minded perspective is then reflected in the entertainment industry to drive their message from coast to coast and in fact around the world.
So, yes there are bubbles at both ends of the divide. But one bubble is far more insulated then the other. You see we who are conservative have to deal with and evaluate leftist ideas whether we want to or not. That is not the case for those on the left. You tell me who is in a better position to choose what is the best path for America. The people exposed to both sides or the people who know little or nothing about the other side?
For those of you who think this is nothing more then the biased musings of a conservative, I suggest you read, Republican Like Me, How I Left the Liberal Bubble and Learned to Love the Right, by Ken Stern. Mr. Stern is past CEO of NPR. He was a card-carrying man of the left. He made the effort to actually meet the conservatives in that vast heartland to discover that it is overflowing with good, generous and tolerant Americans.
I offer two short excerpts demonstrating his epiphany:
“… as much as my neighbors on Hobart Street speak to the values of diversity and tolerance, they have no real interest in viewpoint diversity.”
“The truth is my neighbors don’t really want Republicans among them, because they fear and dislike them.”
Stern had the courage, despite potential social isolation, to slip under the tight seal of his self-imposed NPR bubble and actually make it his business to meet the people who he had stereotyped his whole life. He discovered by God that they aren’t a bunch of gun nuts that hate everyone unlike him or herself.