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Our country has always been a diverse society and that’s what makes us feel special; we all call ourselves Americans. After the 2016 election loss, Democrats were encouraged to understand and sway the angry conservatives who voted for Trump.

Much was made of their “economic anxiety” during the election; but a new study shows that perhaps conservatives’ fear isn’t economic, but social. At the heart of conservatism is a fear of change and a deep-seated fear of being “less than” which in turn drives bigotry, hatred and jealousy.  

To understand the difference between liberals and conservatives, 901 self-identified liberals and 751 self-identified conservatives entered a study involving Twitter, which they all used several times each week. In this experiment, bots re-tweeted comments with opposing viewpoints to liberals and conservatives for one month. Results of that study was surprising and yet, not.

After being exposed to opposing liberal ideas and comments for one month, the self-identified conservatives became “substantially” more, not less, conservative. Researchers called this the “backfire effect,” and concluded that the conservatives more entrenched responses were caused, very likely, by reading liberal tweets being written by either women, minorities or people of color.

Conversely, when self-identified liberals were shown opposing conservative messages, they did not become significantly more liberal, but apparently used reason to determine the correctness of any message and then were able to adjust their viewpoints to the best outcomes.

Previous research notes that intimate conversations and interactions can effect changes in another’s attitudes and consciousness; but, one of the conclusions in this study indicates that social media causes the “backfire effect” by using “filter bubbles” of similarly conservative thoughts.

This is excellent information giving us a way forward to bridge the chasm between the political left and right. By incorporating different methods and ideas, social media can be used as effective means for social progress.

However, for the Nov. 6 election, Liberals, Democrats and Independents must create coalitions, electing the most ethical, effective leadership as the way forward to a more fair and just society.

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