Soviet kid in the West ♀️

I genuinely believe the Irish media has become one of the biggest threats to our society. It has alienated people from all across the political spectrum, fuelling an already growing divide between left and right, and creating an extraordinary amount of anger and resentment. And where do people go to express that frustration? Online, where algorithms surround us with people who affirm everything we already believe, while showing us the absolute worst of those who disagree with us. We’re being pushed further into our own echo chambers, becoming more convinced that everyone on the other side is either stupid or evil. And I think it’s doing enormous damage to our ability to think critically. I speak to people from all across the political spectrum, many who disagree with me on immigration, gender and plenty of other issues. But what’s funny is when you actually sit down and speak to them, you realise we aren’t nearly as different as the internet and media would have you believe. We’re angry about the same things. Housing, healthcare, corruption, the cost of living, the incompetence of the people running this country. We disagree about what’s causing these problems and how to solve them, sure. But we’re all living with the consequences of the same failing systems. Yet we’ve somehow convinced ourselves that the ordinary person who disagrees with us on a handful of issues is our greatest enemy. I always think back to the water charges protests. They showed what could happen when Irish people from very different backgrounds came together against a government policy. And I don’t believe something like that could happen again today. We’re too busy screaming at each other over a fence to realise how much we actually agree on. I don’t even think the Government needs to deliberately keep us divided anymore. Between the media, social media and our own willingness to participate in this nonsense, we’re doing a good job of it ourselves. And who benefits from that? Certainly not us.