9 lines
1.4 KiB
Markdown
9 lines
1.4 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Polarization
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date: 2024-05-28T13:40:33-04:00
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permalink: /polarization/
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tags:
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- academia
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- reading
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---
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I’m serving on a committee appointed by the provost to work on campus-wide discussions of freedom of speech and academic freedom. For this committee — as well as for my own ability to address some questions that I fully expect to be front and center when *Leading Generously* is released — I’m currently reading Sigal Ben-Porath’s *Cancel Wars*. I’m very early on in the book but am struck thus far by her assessment of the polarization that has taken root in US culture, a polarization that is not just political but social, and that draws its strength from a deep mistrust of the “other side” that’s been actively cultivated both on partisan media and through social networks. “Polarization continuously erodes trust,” she notes, “and, at the same time, feeds truth decay by creating insulated communities where only one set of narratives or perspectives can thrive” (16). In those insulated communities, we might find the safety of the like-minded, but it's equally likely that we wind up more afraid than ever, both of the world outside and of the ways that the boundaries of acceptable expression come to be policed. I am looking forward to finding out whether her suggestions for addressing these problems are as compelling as her diagnosis. |