Why Critical Theory & Echo Chambers are a Dangerous Combination | TPWR by TaraElla S9

Today, I want to talk about why echo chambers, and particularly echo chambers steeped in postmodern critical theory thinking, are dangerous to the health of Western democratic systems. I will be explaining this in terms of what we know from cognitive science, the importance of the free flow of ideas in Western democratic systems, and how these two concepts interact with each other.

Let's start with this: the fundamental characteristic of Western democratic systems is that the voters elect the people who govern them, by approximately one person, one vote. As the saying goes, we get the government we deserve. And if you add up multiple elections, it can also be said that we get the society and the development trajectory we deserve. In other words, the conscience and the decision of the voter shapes literally everything. As you see, a lot rests on the almighty vote of each and every voter. This, as I previously said, is entirely consistent with the fundamentals of the Western moral code, which emphasizes individual moral responsibility. The important thing is, to exercise this important duty, every voter must know exactly what is going on. We must have adequate and unbiased information to understand all aspects of the important problems in front of us. This is why echo chambers are dangerous.

Echo chambers ultimately cause people to have a distorted view on issues, for several reasons. Firstly, there is often selective reporting, meaning that only stories that fit the dominant narrative of the echo chamber are given attention. This leads to what is called 'availability bias', which simply means that something which can be immediately remembered is perceived as important by human brains. Therefore, stories that reinforce the dominant narrative are perceived to be important, while incidents that don't fit the narrative, and are hence less reported, are perceived as less important. This can lead to a cascade, ultimately resulting in rare occurances being treated like national emergencies, but more common problems are ignored. Remember, this can equally happen in any echo chamber, so it is something that both the Left and the Right are equally vulnerable to.

Moreover, echo chambers, through their reinforcement of shared narratives, can also contribute to the development of other cognitive biases, like attentional bias, where someone is preoccupied with an existing train of thought and ignores all other possibilities, confirmation bias, i.e. the tendency to interpret information to reinforce previously developed beliefs, even when this is not objectively reasonable, and the bandwagon effect, where people adopt certain beliefs simply because they see other people doing so. There can even be an 'illusory truth effect' sometimes, where people come to believe in false statements simply because of repeated exposure.

Of particular concern is the recent rise of postmodern critical theories, like critical race theory, critical gender theory and so on, and how these can exacerbate the echo chamber cognitive bias problem exponentially. Postmodern criticalism rejects the requirement of objectivity outright, and encourages the dangerous idea that each person can have 'their own truth'. I'm concerned that people who have this worldview would be even less likely to keep their cognitive biases in check. Furthermore, such theories often come with fundamental assumptions, like how everything is defined by power relations, or how racism or the patriarchy is everywhere. This could lead to what is essentially confirmation bias on steroids. My point is, while cognitive biases are something that everyone naturally suffers from, and is basically inevitable in any type of echo chamber, postmodern criticalism is particularly prone to exacerbating them. This is why I'm so concerned about the effect postmodern criticalism is having on the health of Western democracies.