LOB Book Club - The Big Sort: Chapters 2&3
I thought I'd push the discussion of "The Big Sort" along today by taking up Chapters 2 and 3. In this section, Bishop presents evidence that Americans have migrated to certain areas based on lifestyle choices. I was particularly interested in his contention that people consume the news that fits their ideological inclinations. So I've devised a brief quiz:Can you match up these following headlines about the health care debate with the newspapers and websites where they appeared today?
1. Obama Raises His Personal Stake In Health Care Overhaul
2. Challenge to Health Bill: Selling Reform
3. Obama Seeks New Heath Care Momentum
4. Obama Courts Health Care Skeptics Tonight
5. Obama Makes Heath Care Personal
6. Romney to Obama: Slow Down on Health Care
7. Demint Takes the Bait: "We've Got to Stop the President"
8. Obama's Health Mandate Has Support
9. Some Democrats "Baffled" By Health Care Plan
10. White House Declines to Disclose Visits By Health Care Advocates.
Key:
a. Washington Times
b. Daily Kos
c. Boston Globe
d. LA Times
e. CNN
f. Washington Post
g. Drudge Report
h. NY Times
i. Huffington Post
j. Fox News
Good luck!
posted by The Blue Devil @ 1:55 PM
5 Comments:
I've been meaning to tackle this quiz (it looks great!) but I've been straight out getting ready for our big camping trip to Maine. We leave tomorrow morning and will be gone a week. Sorry, I'll have to put my participation in the bookclub on hold until we get back.
See you in August!
No worries - it be here when you come back. Enjoy the camping!
. Obama Raises His Personal Stake In Health Care Overhaul d. LA Times
2. Challenge to Health Bill: Selling Reform f. Washington Post
3. Obama Seeks New Heath Care Momentum h. NY Times
4. Obama Courts Health Care Skeptics Tonight b. Daily Kos
5. Obama Makes Heath Care Personal
e. CNN
6. Romney to Obama: Slow Down on Health Care c. Boston Globe
7. Demint Takes the Bait: "We've Got to Stop the President" g. Drudge Report
8. Obama's Health Mandate Has Support i. Huffington Post
9. Some Democrats "Baffled" By Health Care Plan j. Fox
10. White House Declines to Disclose Visits By Health Care Advocates.a. Washington Times
Key:
Thanks for playing, Johnno. I'm going to hold off on scoring your efforts for now, so that Bivalve can have a fresh crack it after the weekend.
By the way, are you familiar with Bill Bishop's book? Any chatter in the WashPo or in your social circles about it?
Sorry to break this to you, Johnno. You got 0 for 10 on my little exercise. Now, I'm sure that there was little scientific merit to my quiz and yet I'm still going to try to draw some conclusions from it.
Bishop's point in Chapter 3 is that people and more and more sheltering themselves from opposing points of view by only reading what appeals to their own ideological sensibilities. I'm not so sure. What your results show me is that even someone well educated and well read (I know that you regularly read the Post, e.g.) can't accurately spot the kinds of headlines that appear in the media that they consume. By the way, I would fail that test too.
The most interesting choice that you made was on #7, where you plumped for Drudge Report. The headline actually appeared that day on Daily Kos, about as far from Drudge as you can get on the web. To me, that suggests that not only do people not run screaming from media that violates their delicate political sensibilities, but that most of us aren't really that sensitive to the issue.
I read the NY Times and Buffalo News daily and also look regularly at HuffPo, Drudge, Salon and Kos on-line. I watch the Sunday morning chat shows and a fair amount of MSNBC during the week. Bishop would say that because I'm on the left, I seal myself off from right leaning sources. I'm not so sure.
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