Blog Prompt #1

I believe public spheres are still very much alive in contemporary America. It seems that much of our public discourse has moved online in recent years, which can be both good and bad. Anyone can post their opinion about some event or political view on their blog, twitter, or facebook for the whole world to see. Everyone has some sort of audience to react to their post, whether it be in the form of likes, retweets, or comments. If someone disagrees with the post or has a different take on it, they can start a discussion. Anyone can jump in with their own ideas. This is the ideal online public sphere.

However, this isn’t usually what ends up happening. I would say that most people would rather ignore a post they disagree with, post a comment that starts more of a fight than a discussion, unfollow that person, or unfriend them. Having these conversations online makes doing such things safe. You can say anything you want and ignore everything else. In this way, having multiple public spheres online actually causes more political polarization. Social media has huge potential for public discourse, but they just are not being used in that way. I do think there has been some positive change since the 2016 election. I see more people posting about the political climate in America. It seems that more and more people are caring about what’s going on in the country.

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