The Balkanization of America

The Economist remains my favorite news magazine. Reading it gives the impression that there is more going on in the world than the election and Britney Spears. How could there be anything else going on in the world? The British, as fallen global hegemon, have a much broader view of global affairs that provides coverage found nowhere else.

An article titled The Big Sort discusses the ongoing sorting of Americans by ideas and ideals. I have often thought about the impacts of clustering large numbers of like-minded people together who may or may not be able to see outside their own ideological box. The article highlights a new book titled The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing us Apart by Bill Bishop. I have added this book to my reading list. The article cites that continual exposure to like points of view tends to create people with more extreme views. There is a reason why the region in South-Eastern Europe has lent its name to a state of being. Balkanization, as we witnesed in the 1990's is a terrible thing.

It is healthy to step outside our own ideological box to challenge and stretch our beliefs about the world. I don't always like it, but it often changes my perception of others and their views and in turn, nuances my own views in new ways. Agreeing to disagree is the essence of of keeping America from becoming some sort of socio-ideological epitome of balkanization.

I will write more about this interesting subject after I read the book. Possibly, you will read it as well and send me a note as well.

In the end, a nation of balkanized ideologues can lead only to everyone being wrong in their own insulated cognitive world. We will all be wrong in our own way, because seeing anothers point of view, however distasteful, is the essence of the American idea.