Read the Headline, Believe It (aka, where do you get your information?)

For me, facebook is 80% echo chamber. Of my fb friends, the most vocal ones are fairly liberal. Many do not express (or react to) political views at all, and just a few are conservative.

From the conservative side, I have heard many objections about how they are portrayed by anti-Trumps: as “dumb,” callous, racist, and worse. I myself, in the emotional meltdown after Nov. 8, admittedly felt that Trump voters were, at the least, gullible, and at the worst, “deplorable.”

I do not think that Trump voters are dumb or callous, and I am willing to believe that only a small percentage are racist.

But what about gullible? It’s a loaded word, with connotations of weakness and ignorance, so let’s say “easily swayed” by declarations that fit one’s world view.

We are all like that, by the way, progressives, centrists, and traditionalists—it is common for us to accept an unsupported fact as long as it fits in with what we already believe. Ever since I have been harping on sources and facts so vocally, more than one person has halted me in the middle of reading a news item to say, “Hold on, Sarah, where is this from? Have you confirmed it?” And I laugh, then I get defensive for a moment and try to weasel my way out of hypocrisy, then I stop and say they’re right. (Then I check the source.) (Keep keeping me honest, friends!)

Education

It has been reported that education was a diagnostic factor in the 2016 vote (http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/behind-trumps-victory-divisions-by-race-gender-education/). According to that link, among all voters, a college degree was +9 points for Clinton, and non-college was +8 points for Trump. Among the white voters, the divide was even wider: college +4, non-college +39.

Further, a prominent element of the Republican stand on many issues is distrust of science and academia.

Which—come on—I just don’t get. It is so ass-backward. Someone please explain to me how it makes sense to distrust those with more education?

I believe it is logical to assume a correlation between lack of education and being easily swayed. (I have not found a study on this.) Education involves learning how to find sources, how to sift through information, how to collate data, and how to test hypotheses. Those who have not learned how to do these things would be more susceptible to false sources, inconsistent information, misleading data, and bogus hypotheses (http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/11/25/1603978/-Fake-news-network-tried-to-write-fake-news-for-liberals-but-they-just-never-take-the-bait?).

But do those who are less educated necessarily understand that they know less? The Dunning–Kruger effect is “a cognitive bias in which … individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability as much higher than it really is” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect).

So Trump voters are defensive (and have some cause to be), less educated (which is not a value judgment, just a fact), and unwilling to trust those with college educations.

How can those of us who are more educated (eg, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton) bridge this distrust?

Finding an Opponent

I posted an article recently about trying to have a discussion with someone you disagree with (http://intertwingled.org/separating-stories/). The writer was a liberal talking with a conservative. (I use these terms loosely, but you know what I mean.)

The writer’s experience and mine are similar. When I have had a chance to discuss an issue (let’s say “X”) calmly with a Trump voter (rare as that may be), we start with opposing views and some jockeying for position, which usually involves irrelevant attacks on the Clintons. When I make it clear that I am not interested in lionizing the Clintons and also, we were talking about X, I try to steer toward the known facts, hunting for some that we share (such as Trump’s public statements, which you would think are indisputable).

So far, that’s as far as I’ve gotten. I’ve had people immediately agree with me and defend themselves by saying they were voting on the issues, not the man (which is weird but I can get past it). I’ve had people say they don’t have time right now but would love to discuss it later (I take them at their word). I’ve had people turn out to have been playing devil’s advocate, which I applaud because it helps me delve into the issues, but a fake devil is not what I seek.

(I had one discussion with a family member that was somewhat fruitful, but without that person’s permission to discuss it here, I won’t.)

Since late summer, I have been looking (on Facebook) to find some understanding of the Trump voters, and it still eludes me. Once I get toward discussing the meat of the issues (in particular, racism), we find no common ground.

At one point, I was told that the instances of racism reported nationally are blown out of proportion by the press. I have a responsibility, given my vocal skepticism of news sources, to look into that possibility. My first forays suggest that the “don’t believe the liberal news media” attacks include that meme (ie, racism is overblown); I have more investigation to do.

So why is this well-informed opponent so hard to find?

• because of the echo chamber? certainly

• because she does not exist? I hope not

• because as soon as the discussion turns to facts, he sees that I am better informed and bails? sometimes

• because I suffer from the reverse of the Dunning–Kruger effect? (“high-ability individuals may underestimate their relative competence and may erroneously assume that tasks which are easy for them are also easy for others”)

• because unlike liberals, conservatives are more easily swayed? hmmm

• because I have not found her yet?

Please help me find those conservatives who are really willing to talk about the issues, by sharing this. I am not looking for clicks on my blog, honest; I just am trying to find my way out of the echo chamber toward a better understanding of the 48% who voted for Trump.

And please help me refine this blog by commenting or just noting on the facebook notification that you read it. I admit it, I need an audience to generate the energy to continue!