Newspaper Page Text
Page 4A
The Braselton News
Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Opinion
A ‘national divorce’ would be a disaster
During my
early child
hood, racial
segregation
was the norm
in the South.
That was re
flected in hous
ing, education
and even what
water fountains
were to be used
by Blacks and
whites.
The roots of that seg
regation went back to the
era of American slavery
and the underlying idea
that Blacks were inferior
to whites. Even after slav
ery was ended by the Civ
il War, that idea persist
ed deep in the American
cultural landscape. And it
wasn’t just in the South.
Many of the Northern
whites who came to the
South during recon
struction to teach former
slaves did so in part be
cause they, too, thought
Blacks were innately in
ferior.
It took another 100
years of turmoil for
that attitude to begin to
change. Even then, some
of those who supported
the Civil Rights move
ment for voting rights
were reluctant to support
greater social
and cultural in
teractions be
tween the two
races.
But times
change and
while the two
races aren’t yet
fully integrated
across all strata
of society, there
is a slow cultural
march in that direction.
I mention all of that
because the recent call
by right-wing Rep. Mar
jorie Taylor Greene for a
“national divorce” along
political lines echoes the
idea that people who are
different should live apart
from each other. In her
call, she advocates polit
ical segregation based on
what political party you
favor.
• ••
Green’s idea of having
red states separate from
blue states is nutty. It
could never work — and
who would decide the
fate of purple states like
Georgia?
But that idea does re
flect a growing reality in
the nation where people
are increasingly self-seg
regating based on their
political affiliations.
That isn’t 100%, of
course, but if you look at
voting trends by neigh
borhood, you don’t see
a lot of mixed political
results. Those who vote
Democratic tend to con
gregation in certain ar
eas while those who vote
GOP also tend to live in
close proximity to each
other.
That isn’t entirely based
on party affiliation, of
course. While some new
housing developments
in Texas reportedly mar
ket themselves as being
friendly to GOP voters,
most of this self-segrega
tion has multiple factors
involved.
For one thing, hous
ing prices alone create
socio-economic and de
mographic segregation.
Those who can afford to
buy an $800,000 house
typically have different
kinds of jobs, lifestyles
and sometimes political
outlooks than those who
can afford a $200,000
house. Often, education
levels are also reflected
in that so that people with
similar life experiences
and jobs plop down in the
same neighborhoods.
From there, this de
mographic segregation
spreads outward to the
kinds of businesses that
locate in a community and
to the values and focus its
local schools embrace.
And to an extent, there is
the influence of urban vs.
rural that impacts specific
lifestyle choices.
And over the last cou
ple of decades, this de
mographic divide has
also come to reflect dif
ferent political values and
choices.
• ••
While there has always
been a degree of political
differences rooted in de
mographic and socio-eco
nomic groups, it wasn’t
always so stark. Peo
ple with varying flavors
of political affiliations
would still go to church
together, socialize togeth
er and work together.
Now, however, many
people tend to increasing
ly live in an echo cham
ber, surrounded by peo
ple who believe the same
kinds of things they do,
including politics. Our
neighborhoods, places of
worship and employment
tend to be a closed-loop
of group-think.
College campuses often
reflect this where liberal
political dogma is rein
forced within the overall
academic community. On
the right, conservative
political dogma is often
reinforced in evangelical
churches which have in
creasingly woven secular
politics into their reli
gious theology.
• ••
This political segrega
tion and echo chambers
are further reinforced by
non-community influenc
es as well. Increasingly,
people orient their news
sources based more on
political commentary
than real news. And so
cial media, with its al
gorithms, feeds people
biased, and sometimes
misleading, commentary
based on a person’s polit
ical predisposition.
The result of all this
isn’t difficult to see.
We’ve become a nation
of political silos that have
increasingly fractured our
political landscape. On
both the left and right, ad
herence to a political dog
ma has become mandato
ry least one be ostracized
from their friends, neigh
bors and co-workers.
So when Greene called
for a “national divorce”
she was, in part, echoing
what has already been
happening at the grass
roots level.
But the problem with
this “birds of a feather
should flock together” so
cial model is that it would
destroy the nation and
isn’t sustainable. There
would be nothing worse
for the social order than
to congregate like-mind
ed people all in one place
under one government.
The result would inevita
bly become a dictatorship
where minority views
would be suppressed and
dissents to the cultural
norms would be persecut
ed.
Greene is a flake and an
embarrassment to Geor
gia. But she does reflect
the extremism in thought
that is increasingly taking
hold of the GOP where
strident voices drown
out more thoughtful and
moderate voices.
Greene, and those who
believe in her whacky po
litical views, should move
to Russia if they want to
see what happens when
single-party rule becomes
a national norm.
Mike Buffington is
co-publisher of Main-
street Newspapers. He
can be reached at mike@
mains treetnews. com.
rs
mike
buffington
Our information environment needs an overhaul
If you’re home
when the pow
er goes out, it’s
good that you
know where
the furniture
is so you don’t
stumble into it.
There’s context
to everything in
your house. You
need to know
where the fuse
box is in your home. You
know if the washer and
dryer are near collapse.
You need a plan of how to
replace them. Every little
thing in your house has its
little story — or big story
at times. Right?
This extends beyond
your home. Where is
growth going in your
county? Are the schools
functioning well? How
about the county govern
ment?
Life is contextual. We
are always assessing our
surroundings, trying to
determine what we need
in our home, then beyond
that, what does this com
munity have and what is
lacking?
If you live in Madison
County, then we can be
a part of that assessment
piece for you. I have writ
ten about this county for a
quarter of a century. And
my mindset in that job is
simple: Here’s our shared
community. Here are
some pictures, both in text
and in photo form, of how
it looks. Let’s see what’s
happening here, and ap
preciate the many good
things, while also seeing
what we can do to make it
better. Simple. That’s the
aim. And it fills me with a
lot of personal worth to try
and hold up that bargain
— fail as I may at times.
No matter what is pro
duced, I always know
there’s far more that could
be in each issue, because
we have about 30,000
people here, and so I know
whatever we publish is al
ways just a tiny fraction
of what’s actually happen
ing.
But it’s personally sat
isfying to learn about you
and try to tell your stories.
I know there are
articles and pho
tographs about
local people that
have been cut out
and are now yel
lowing in some
drawer or box
that someone’s
great grandchild
will view in 50
years, getting a
small window
into a life in this com
munity that went before
theirs. I love thinking
about that.
I’m speaking of context
now, and that’s something
I spend a lot of time doing,
trying to put things in my
own context. If I assess
myself in that way, then I
think I’m a newspaper ed
itor who started pre-inter
net and has seen my own
industry decimated by the
past 25 years of digital
transformation. The feel
ing I got at 25 from telling
people my job is different
than now. A lot of indus
tries have faced this sort
of thing.
And if I’m honest with
you, I have a lot of bit
terness I have to sup
press. I feel like every
community should have
viable news. I believe ge
ography-based journalism
— the kind that tells you
about your home com
munity — is important to
a healthy world, helping
guide communities as they
navigate life.
And watching so many
geography-based news
sources collapse in fa
vor of today’s ideologi
cal-based infotainment
feels like a robbery of
part of this country’s soul.
That’s just the truth. I feel
we’ve all been robbed,
whether we recognize it or
not. I’m not that interested
in assigning blame for it
either. What interests me
is having people under
stand what happened and
then pushing for a better
information economy, be
cause I think the future
of our country is largely
dependent on creating a
better informational envi
ronment, one where civ
ic standards hold more
weight than profit alone,
which rules today.
When it comes to ideo
logical-based infotain
ment that tries to call it
self news, recognize this:
Increasingly, we don’t in
gest news to be informed
anymore. We ingest news
to be validated in what
we already believe. This
is the primary dish on the
menu, the best profit reci
pe. Too many media don’t
challenge any viewership
or readership with infor
mation that goes counter
to their ideology for fear
of losing them and losing
profits. What I wish more
people realized is how
condescending this is to
all of us. It’s the equiva
lent of telling a child that
M&Ms are a good source
of nutrition because that’s
just what the 7 year old
wants to hear, something
that makes you unhealthy
overall but is satisfying in
the moment. This is much
of our news environment,
big bowls of M&Ms in
different rooms.
Also, recognize that
big-tech players such as
Facebook, Google, You
Tube, Twitter are exempt
from any liability for
what’s trafficked on their
sites, unlike this news
paper or any other pub
lisher. Section 230 of the
Communications Decency
Act of 1996 frees these
companies to do what
ever they want on their
sites. And they do. Big-
tech companies gather
all the information about
us they possibly can, sell
that information, then use
algorithms to steer us to
ward whatever behavior
will bring the most profit
for them and their adver
tisers based on our data.
That’s hardly a neutral
utility, is it? No, that’s a
hyper-involved publisher.
Just imagine a phone com
pany wire-tapping all your
conversations, gathering
information about you,
selling that information
about your heartfelt talks
with your mom or other
loved one to anyone in
terested in persuading you
for commercial or politi
cal reasons, then develop
ing a framework to try and
steer you toward whatever
behavior earns them the
most money. Would you
be cool with wire taps on
all your calls? There’s
nothing different here.
Obviously, these tech
companies aren’t neutral
actors. They are steering
behavior in this country,
with extremism incen-
tivized because it draws
the most eyeballs, thus,
the most profits. This ex
tends off the internet into
real life, with tragic con
sequences. Our society is
growing more extreme.
It’s obvious, and this per
verse informational econ
omy is a huge part of that.
Meanwhile, remember
that none of the big-tech
players have their own
news divisions. Does
Facebook have a news
staff? Twitter? Nope. And
yet, these big-tech compa
nies traffic actual news on
their sites created by real
publishers who have the
expense of paying a staff.
These tech companies then
use their algorithms to ad
vertise to those interest
ed in those news stories,
which in turn, kills all the
advertising for the actual
content producers. This is
the demise of community
journalism, the flight of
geography-based adver
tising toward data-based,
algorithmic advertising
with big-tech companies,
who use news content
they didn’t pay for as the
vehicle. It’s a rigged game
from our perspective. And
it’s infuriating to hear the
"poor little newspaper in
dustry” kind of talk when
people seem so ignorant or
indifferent to the stacked
deck gifted to big tech. Of
course they were going to
win. They were given ex
emption from publishing
responsibilities and chose
growth at any cost over
civic responsibility, all
while acting as publishers.
There needs to be some
sort of enforced bar
gain between big tech
and content creators that
makes big tech pay for
the content they traffic.
Of course, that would hurt
their shareholder price, so
yeah, never gonna’happen
as long as legislators bow
to the money.
That’s why we need the
public to say to legislators,
stand up to these informa
tional monopolies of the
modern world, and put in
civic-minded restraints on
their power. First, elimi
nate Section 230, which
frees big tech companies
from the liability laws that
bind all publishers. Big
tech isn’t acting as utility
providers. They are hyper
involved in everything we
see online. Why a free pass
for that publishing behav
ior? We can’t just publish
anything in this paper free
of liability. That’s because
we’re publishers. How are
these companies differ
ent? Yes, there would be
real disruption on the in
ternet with the elimination
of Section 230, but failing
to take action is going to
lead to far worse disrup
tion for society. We’re
on a truly terrible path.
And our country is being
ripped apart.
We should also reinsti
tute the Fairness Doctrine,
which was law between
1949 and 1987. It required
broadcasters to devote
some of their airtime to
discussing controversial
matters of public inter
est, and to air contrast
ing views regarding those
matters. People don’t want
to hear anything that con
flicts with their established
beliefs, but many kids also
don’t like to eat vegeta
bles or anything other than
M&Ms. Doesn’t mean
vegetables shouldn’t be
served, does it?
Most of all, we need to
agree that local life mat
ters. We are so hooked on
our phones and the culture
wars of today that we can
easily ignore what’s right
beside us — whether it’s
noticing others in our
home or our local commu
nity. All this other stuff is
just trying to suck us into
the attention machine for
profit. If that’s all we do,
then we’re just stumbling
around in the dark, look
ing down and primed for a
fall. We need the lights on.
We need to walk straight
ahead into the future with
good information. That
means we need action. Do
what you can.
Zach Mitcham is editor
of The Madison Coun
ty Journal. He can be
reached at zach@main-
streetnews.com.
The Braselton News
Mike Buffington Co-Publisher
Scott Buffington Co-Publisher & Advertising Manager
Ben Munro Editor
Taylor Hearn Sports Editor
Wesleigh Sagon Photographer/Features
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