Super Mad at Everything All the Time

The space between the personal and the political has completely collapsed and a hyperpolarized media is to blame. The constant political hostility spreads from the news to punditry to consumer culture to classrooms and to our personal lives. Dagnes asks the question: How did the modern American political media become so polarized? Dagnes answers this question by providing and overview of the four primary causes for the partisan media we have today. First, there has been decades of institutional demonization against academics, the media, and the government itself. The slow buildup of the opposition to these institutions has resulted in massive public distrust and provided fertile ground for the current political antagonism. Technology has changed the media, allowing us constant, immediate, and endless communication and has increased the monetization potential of the media. Competitive financial imperatives have shifted to a highly emotional communication system, emphasizing how people are feeling, versus how they are thinking. Finally, the hyper-partisan media is both a cause and result of a larger polarized political climate. Americans are insulating themselves in their political lives, which now stretch from elections into their social media feeds. As Americans continue to shield themselves from information that they find disagreeable, our intolerance increases and our disdain for our neighbors grows.

American attitudes toward the institutions of knowledge have transformed in the past half-century. As the national culture developed to include more citizens in the areas of higher education, the media, and politics, many conservatives began to question those in power. Since the mid-twentieth century, there has been a growing accusation of liberal bias in colleges, in the news, and in government. These verdicts of one-sidedness helped usher in a new media system, one tailored specifically for those on the right. Rooted in truth but inflated into the illusory, the conservative accusations of bias have led to a cynical dismissal of these three foundations. Dagnes examines the formation, development, and contemporary conservative arguments against liberal universities and professors, against a large and intrusive government, and against a biased news media. These arguments together comprise one important reason that there is a right-wing media circle today.

There is more money in media but also more problems. In addition to concerns about how they keep the lights on amidst considerable competition, media organizations have to keep their eye on their duties as the messengers of news and information at a time when everyone has their own messaging system. News media today also have to worry about the polarization of their audience, which feeds into the increasing distrust by the public against them. Their platforms are shifting, and they have to keep up with the competition and the new technologies that emphasize shrunken content and speed. The news media, vital to an effective democracy, is facing threats from all sides. Dagnes examines how technological developments inspired a flood of money into the media while at the same time brought economic trouble to many legacy outlets. These technological and financial changes have expanded the political media landscape. Because there is so much space available, and because political messaging has become essential to any political campaign, the public hears hearing from an increasing number of politicos. The result of this crowded environment is a corresponding increase in volume, since political actors need to be heard above everyone else.

The American public is deeply divided by politics. Polarization is no longer contained only within American politics, and it seeps into the larger national culture through the media. Even the majority of the public who tries to avoid politics cannot escape the hot rage of political polarity, because it is seemingly everywhere. Dagnes examines the reasons for the polarization, including the development of identity politics and the way elections have become vicious individual battles in a much larger partisan war. There are political, ideological, and financial victories to be claimed in these clashes and with this much at stake, the battles are intensifying. The fights about candidates or issue positions are simplified in order to be understandable, which make them ideal for media coverage. Hence, our polarization is lucrative for the media and politically beneficial for those who fight well, which is why the public hears about political divisions frequently and with such intensity. These fights spill over into the broader American culture, and now there are political fights in entertainment, sports, and consumer culture. This is one more reason for the current partisan news.

The argument that the media are liberally biased opened the door for a conservative alternative. There have always been influential conservative political media outlets, but today, there is something different. The right-wing media circle is a small, tightly enclosed, self-reinforcing set of outlets that stick to a coherent narrative while they cast aspersions at those outside their sphere. Media organizations inside this circle do not compete with one another, but instead have a negative objective which is to provide an alternative account of the news. The right-wing media circle outlets are not pro-conservative but anti-liberal, and within this structure, their audience chooses to consume information that is sometimes short on fact but long on anger. Dagnes explains those inside the right-wing media circle, describes how this system operates, and explores the ramifications of having such an internally coherent, insulated information system.

There are serious consequences for the divided political media system in modern American culture. Dagnes examines the costs and effects of a polarized media on American democracy and on civil discourse. These are serious and important outcomes that will have a lasting impact on American politics. Dagnes also provides some possible solutions to the problems this system creates, offering strategies and approaches for communicating in a modern world. In doing so, Dagnes offers hope for the future with the possibility that Americans will not be super mad at everything all the time.