Who Needs Discourse These Days?

 

Nowadays, people seem to dread the "d-word". That word being discourse, of course. With people more divided than ever in this current political climate, political discussions seem to be the last thing on anyone's mind. This can be partially blamed on the rise and popularity of social media. We are also in the age of misinformation. Propaganda and conspiracy theories are able to run rampant and spread easily on the internet. One often-referenced example of this is the Q-Anon phenomenon. They gain popularity via social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc. Social media has allowed people to only view information that suits their agenda. This has caused people to be reluctant to venture outside of their little bubbles of political praxis. Far-right people only expose themselves to those with matching agendas. While left-leaning people tend to align more with leftist agendas on social media. There are no productive discussions from differing sides being had anymore. Will today's political climate only further divide people? Is political discourse over as we know it? Maybe in the future people will be more open to differing opinions and new ideas.