Neil Gross in the NY Times:
The good news is that most young people going to college today will find like-minded peers to connect with and will take engaging courses that speak to their interests and values. Relatively few will spend their college years browbeaten by arrogant professors or militant students whose political views are antithetical to their own.
The bad news is that this mostly congenial experience is made possible by a pervasive insularity. To a striking degree, young people now pick their college based in part on the school’s political reputation, make friends with and date other kids with similar political views, choose majors that reinforce their outlook on the world and generally gravitate toward what is ideologically familiar.
This self-sorting not only undercuts the development of the critical thinking skills that a college education is supposed to foster; it also deepens the polarization that is imperiling our country.
I doubt this trend is as powerful or pervasive as Gross makes it seem, but it is absolutely real; friendships between MAGA and DSA young Americans seem to me to be very rare indeed. People don't just oppose their political enemies, they hate them, and many of us seem to think that nothing else matters nearly as much.
2 comments:
Sure. But let's not pretend that 'both sides are the same' here. That's the laziest sort of political journalism there is.
Left-wing Democrats (and if you want to call them social democrats, go for it) are pushing for -- checks notes -- things like universal healthcare and affordable housing. Right wing Republicans are pushing for -- again, checks notes -- ending birthright citizenship, anti-vaccine rhetoric, and taking away women's reproductive freedoms.
I'm fine with people describing themselves as centrists or centre-right. I'd consider myself among them. But the current version of MAGA Republicanism isn't that. It's unashamedly hard, if not far, right. Pretending that someone from the political centre, let alone political left, should hold their nose and date a MAGA Republican because that's the way to heal America is naive beyond belief.
Neil Gross knows better, I'm sure. But banging out a 'both sides are the same' article is the easiest thing in the world and won't upset anyone. Bully for him.
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