This is not scientific. I haven’t done any research at all, and so I could be totally full of shit. I’m just whistling in the dark, putting it out there for what it’s worth. This is a trend I think I’ve noticed, and it could be total wishful thinking and idle speculation on my part. But, here goes:
It’s a thing
The omni-directional communication afforded by the internet is leading to changes in the public decision making process by bringing about consensus. A few examples:
When Barack Obama put the decision as to whether or not to bomb Syria in front of congress, an unintended consequence was that he put it in front of the public. It was suddenly the one topic everybody was talking about on facebook and a strange alliance of right wing Obama haters and left wing peaceniks was formed. Actually, it wasn’t so much formed as found. Congress noticed this groundswell and the chance for congressional approval, which initially had seemed a foregone conclusion, was suddenly dead in the water. Putin saw an opportunity and jumped in. A deal was cut. Everybody saved face. It all happened quite quickly.
I think this consensus process has a lot to do with how homosexuality has become socially acceptable. It hasn’t been that fast, and there are pockets of resistance, but with everybody’s opinion out there, in print, it’s become clear that most people really don’t care what other people do in their personal lives. Live and let live is a lot more common personal philosophy than previously thought. At some point a tipping point was passed, and it became seriously uncool to be homophobic. We now have consensus on that.
On the marijuana issue, once the debate left the sound bite era and entered the black and white, everybody register their opinion in print era, the arguments against legalization just started seeming more and more feeble. Amazingly, it’s still illegal in most places, but pretty much nobody argues in favor of that any more. We have reached consensus.
Of course, there are still some really obtuse people arguing some really ridiculous points of view, but we are making progress, and social media is helping.
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