Politics as sport or hobby.





My next door neighbour has the above bumper sticker on her car. My first reaction was "Oh no, how can intelligent people be so stupid?'    She is a retired Medical Doctor.

 But it is not a matter of stupidity.   It's all about "politics as sports".

 Liberals support CNN, and think that Fox News is Fake (Faux) News.

 Conservatives support Fox News, and maintain that CNN is "Very Fake".

 That's all well and good if we reduce our civic commitments to a sort of gladiatorial contest.

 Reduced to a binary "good v evil" matrix has a feel-good factor for conservatives and liberals alike.  

 We post our memes and statements, but forget an essential question: "How does what I say contribute to a richer and deeper citizen-ship?"

 With that in mind I beg you to listen to today's edition of the radio programme "The Hidden Brain".

 Here is the teaser from National Public Radio:


Here is where you can listen to the programme.

https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain
I beg you so to do.

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