Libraries are Non-partisan

The article "It's Not About the Economy" by Alana Semuels stated, "People's predispositions affect their factual beliefs about the world," said Brendan Nyhan, a professor of government at Dartmouth College who has researched why people believe what they do about politics. "What we want to be true influences what be believe to be true."  The link to the article is below.  It discusses the polarization that is happening in our country and uses Elkhart, Indiana's improving economy as an example.  Many people there do not believe that President Obama had any effect on this improvement since the recession. 

The article further states, "Time and again, Schaffner said, people evaluate their own economic situations differently depending on who is president.  During the Obama presidency, Republicans were less likely to say that their economic situation had improved over the past year.  When Trump becomes president, though, this will likely switch, and Democrats will say their economic situation has not improved."  

It seems like we're in a vicious cycle of extreme politics.  What can we do to break this circle?  According to the article, "There is, however, one way to pierce partisan biases, Nyhan said.  If reality intrudes, people may be more willing to accept it.  Someone can debate climate change for years, but if his house is threatened by a tide that rises every year as the planet warms, he may be more likely to accept that climate change exists." 

It is a depressing thought that we may need such extreme events in order to wake people up.  I cannot fathom that we may have to go through more of the crazy polarizing elections in the future.  All of us need to be striving to overcome our unwillingness to consider views other than what fits with our own biases.  Even many religions waded into the political arena in this last round. 

My personal salvation from all of this division is to do more reading and research than I have ever done before.  My library card is getting a daily workout as I try to read as many sources as possible when attempting to learn about an issue.  Our public libraries are one of the last bastions of non-partisanship.  RELIABLE, FACTUAL information is there for all of us to consume.  Please encourage your friends and relatives to investigate the resources that your public library offers.  Mine offers on-line access to many newspaper and magazine data bases in addition to books.  And it's all available for the cost (FREE!) of a library card.  Maybe if we take more advantage of this non-political environment it will translate into more tolerance in our politics.  


https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/12/its-not-the-economy-stupid/511634/