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[Previous entry: "Cute gallery of magazines from the 22nd century."] [Main Index] [Next entry: "New Mr Wiggles."] 05/24/2005 Entry: "Interesting dkos diary on why political blogs fail to change minds." Interesting dkos diary on why political blogs fail to change minds. Its the groupthink, stupid. If we simply write off Santorum as an unhinged religio-hypocrite with a thinly veiled fascist agenda, we'll keep having trouble selling our message to the rest of the country - not because we're wrong, but because they're just not starting with the same knowledge and assumptions. "Mainstream America" doesn't know who Rick Santorum is, doesn't know what his views are, doesn't know what his rhetorical and legislative history is, and won't see his support for a law or policy as inherently suspect. This leads into the other "problem" with blog echo chambers. Sites like Kos and Eschaton are not supposed to be news. They have an avowed ideological slant, and their choice of posts and commentary are usually designed to inform and promote progressive policies. This is fine, but one of the obvious side effects is that the Psych 101 "confirmation bias" starts churning into overdrive. We are barraged with news and opinions that reinforce our existing notions. We start not seeing information and opinions that contradict what we already believe, or we do see it but discount it. See also: Wikipedia entry on groupthink. Worth reading. See also: Moyers vs. Limbaugh. Tangentially related.