Few people deny today’s political climate has grown increasingly hostile. Across social media platforms, people post divisive content that incites flame wars, destroys friendships and even creates rifts between family members.
Social media giant Facebook originally planned to help return a bit of civility to online political discourse by launching their Common Ground project. However, Facebook recently declared they would not proceed with this initiative out of fear of offending people with a conservative political outlook. Their abandonment of the project brings up the question as to whether those on opposite ends of the political spectrum can ever interact graciously and debate issues without resorting to personal attacks.
What Was the Common Ground Project?
The original intent of Facebook’s Common Ground project revolved around allowing left-wing and right-wing supporters alike to address the political implications surrounding global and social issues in a non-toxic, solutions-oriented manner. The project involved sharing various news articles from a myriad of sources to prompt discourse. Facebook would then boost comments that indicated solid political theory and were free from any personal condemnation against other users to the top of the comment list. Facebook would also move inflammatory commentary, particularly those featuring personal attacks, to the bottom of the comment list, where few people would view them.
However, Joel Kaplan, global policy chief for Facebook, feared a conservative backlash against the initiative. In vocalizing his concerns, Kaplan said mainstream media outlets made up a large percentage of the suggested posts. Conservatives have long attacked the mainstream media as liberal-leaning, opening the possibility that much of the commentary would lead to conservative posts receiving little public attention.
What Does Facebook’s Move Say About Us?
Kaplan has long embraced a conservative ideology, and indeed served as one of George W. Bush’s top administration officials, so his nixing of the project confirmed he still possesses right-leaning tendencies. Indeed, Kaplan notably attended the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh to support a man whom he refers to as a friend.
Kaplan’s political viewpoint clashes with much of Silicon Valley culture, which tends toward leftist-leaning policy decisions. In one of his most notable complaints about the Common Ground project, Kaplan said the algorithm would unfairly silence those on the right side of the political spectrum by moving commentary that tends to be more polarized and from a less tolerant viewpoint down in the content and replies to each post. Kaplan even dismissed the term “Common Ground” as unjustly prejudicial and condescending.
What statement does Kaplan’s decision make about Americans as a society? Those on either side of the fence quickly claim bias when new information conflicts with their preconceived belief system.
Scientific research indicates the difference between liberals and conservatives may lie in the brain. When individuals of right-wing political leanings underwent MRI imaging, researchers discovered conservatives possessed larger amygdalae than their liberal counterparts. The amygdala governs the human fear response, making conservatives react exaggeratedly to perceived, if illogical, threats, such as those immigrants presumably pose to them.
That’s not to say liberals don’t also exhibit bias in online interactions. Indeed, many left-leaning social media posters share the blame equally for making personal attacks.
Also, the way liberals often label much of the conservative ideology as evil further polarizes them from those on the other side of the political fence. Since conservatives react with a stronger fear response than liberals, many may interpret arguments more intensely, leading to increased online defensiveness and hostility.
Building a More Congenial Future
Online interactions, even those between relative strangers, can wound a person’s sense of self-esteem. Still, it remains an open question what burden social media outlets should bear regarding promoting more civil discourse between various users of their platforms.
Facebook’s recent reversal of Common Ground implies taking a laissez-faire approach decreases the chances that their channels predominantly feature liberal-leaning political discourse. While this may make good business sense, it also makes it incumbent on all social media users to monitor their commentary and to think before posting. Both liberals and conservatives alike should be able to agree: Being considerate makes for good policy, indeed.
Kate is a health and political journalist. You can subscribe to her blog, So Well, So Woman, to read more of her work and receive a free subscriber gift! https://sowellsowoman.com/about/subscribe/