How Do You Know When You Are in a Bubble?

In this article, I am trying to help people identify their bias. Most people think they are fair. They see bias in others, especially the people who they disagree with politically, but they fail to recognize their own bias. There are some groups which are text book cases of this. The media, or the Main Stream Media to be precise, are living in their own bubble.They have a large microphone and reach a large segment of the population. Their bias is reflected in their audiences.

- Feb. 2020

The media giants like the New York Times and Washington Post, along with the broadcast news of CBS, NBC and ABC, and Cable news channels of CNN and MSNBC are all part of this main stream media. They capture a majority of the public attention. Yet, they are one of the least diverse groups of people. These people who work in these organizations, besides the major players, anchors and writers, includes all the staff and support personnel. are all of like minds.

They work for the most part in NYC, and Washington DC. They live among the same people they cover. They socialize with the same groups of people. Their children attend the same schools. In a nutshell, they live inside a bubble. A bubble of like minds.

They have no clue about the rest of the country, which includes 90% of the land mass, and 60% of Americans. The fly-over states is another term used to describe them. They include farmers, factory workers, and blue collar workers.

So, when Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire running for President on the Democratic ticket, makes fun of farming and what it takes to be a successful farmer, that is a tell sign.

• your news media
• your friends
• your co-workers
• the books you read
• the school you attend
• the company you work for

These are all potential signs of your bias or rather the bubble of your existence.

One way to get out of this bubble is to travel outside your area. Talk to some people you meet.

The conventional wisdom is to not discuss politics and religion among your family and friends. However, the exception is when you are meeting someone off the street or come across in your travels. This is how you can get a gage on the rest of America. When I go on vacation, I try to engage the people I meet on the trip. The tour guide, the bus driver, the restaurant workers and other tourists. This is how you learn about people outside your bubble. What are their opinions and what issues matter to them.

The public may have an excuse. They are too busy, they rely on the news media to provide information. They are too busy living their lives, working for a living, supporting their family and enjoying their ball games...

The person who does not have an excuse is your local politicians. It is their job to know their constituents. He should know what his people care about and thinks. That is our system of a democratic republic. We elect people to represent us so that they can go to DC and work to pass legislation that affects us. If anyone who should know, it is these group of people.

Yet, our politicians have been corrupted. They are focused on donors and lobbyists. Their vote can be bought. They have lost touch of who they work for.

The other group is the media. They are also not doing their job. They are the watchdog. They allow their own bias to influence the news they cover. They should be exposing wrong doings at our government and report on them fairly. Their job is not to spin the news to protect one party while attacking the other.

The bubble is a metaphor. In the movie, a boy in the bubble, is protecting himself from germ contamination. In the bubble I am speaking of, it is a bubble to shelter someone's believe system. When you only interact with people that have the same ideas, you are stale. Once you identify the bubble, the next step is to get out of it. It could be a most liberating experience.