Did Facebook fuel political polarization during the 2020 election? It’s complicated.

seasonone@opidea.xyz to Technology@beehaw.org – 82 points –
Did Facebook fuel political polarization during the 2020 election? It’s complicated.
arstechnica.com
20

You are viewing a single comment

So this confirms all the studies and adages of conservative voters being less intelligent, more subject to scams and fraud, and less accepting of social norms.

You've got studies suggesting that conservatives are less accepting of social norms?

Does not literally turning traitor and attempting to overthrow the United States of America and murder the vice president count as a social norm?

Bit of a non-sequitor, that would be an anecdote and not a study. But yeah I would say that those things would violate social norms. I don't know if I would agree that conservative people are more likely to violate those norms, which is presumably your point. Take a look at the history of political assassinations in the United States or in Europe, for example. Political violence does not belong uniquely to conservatives.

I think actually pretty much by definition that conservatives are MORE concerned with social norms. That's kind of one of the primary traits of conservativism. I think a pretty good argument could be made that the Tumpist people you're referring to do not so much represent a conservative point of view as much as a fascist or ultra-nationalist one, which explains why they will violate certain norms pertaining to peaceful electoral processes, while strongly maintaining other norms, like heterosexual nuclear families or religious observances or certain expectations of gender expression, etc.