Tower of Babel

Interesting article, if only in a "makes you think" kinda way. Compares the American polity being stretched every which way to the Tower of Babel falling. Stretching the story into to a man with a hammer every problems a nail territory, IMO. That being said it's a good article that discusses a pretty important matter: social media's effect on the polity. 
And sure, Im of the mind that there's more to our being torn apart than just social media (inequality etc play into it), but the article has some good points. [1]

Second, the dart guns of social media give more power and voice to the political extremes while reducing the power and voice of the moderate majority. The “Hidden Tribes” study, by the pro-democracy group More in Common, surveyed 8,000 Americans in 2017 and 2018 and identified seven groups that shared beliefs and behaviors. The one furthest to the right, known as the “devoted conservatives,” comprised 6 percent of the U.S. population. The group furthest to the left, the “progressive activists,” comprised 8 percent of the population. The progressive activists were by far the most prolific group on social media: 70 percent had shared political content over the previous year. The devoted conservatives followed, at 56 percent.

Think about that for a sec, then the conclusion to that:

These two extreme groups are similar in surprising ways. They are the whitest and richest of the seven groups, which suggests that America is being torn apart by a battle between two subsets of the elite who are not representative of the broader society. What’s more, they are the two groups that show the greatest homogeneity in their moral and political attitudes. This uniformity of opinion, the study’s authors speculate, is likely a result of thought-policing on social media: “Those who express sympathy for the views of opposing groups may experience backlash from their own cohort.” In other words, political extremists don’t just shoot darts at their enemies; they spend a lot of their ammunition targeting dissenters or nuanced thinkers on their own team. In this way, social media makes a political system based on compromise grind to a halt.

The article then mentions the rise in suicide and self harm among the youth. A problem to be sure. Hell, read this about suicide clusters in the Navy (just now!). Again, I don't doubt SM has a role, but other things are also at play, to include lack of trust in leadership or those in charge. 
[1] The main one I've mentioned, being that they are all mainly racist at their core. Especially here in the US, but I've read about FB in India and how from the mods on down it helps the Brahmins over the oppressed in that country. 
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