I would like to follow up on David's excellent post on partisanship and Obama's inauguration speech. It fits in well with some research that I did over the winter break.
One of the on-going debates about the role of the Internet and American politics is that the Internet is helping to make people increasing partisanship. Instead of just picking up the newspaper and getting exposed to both sides of an argument. We run to the Internet and find like-minded people. If we're liberal, we find liberal websites and blogs and get more liberal. If we're conservative, we go to conservative website and blogs and get more conservative. We cocoon ourselves with like minded folks and get more extreme in our belief systems. This is the argument of Cass Sunstein, a law professor at the University of Chicago.
Over the break, I looked at hours and hours of YouTube videos related to the 2008 election. (Yes, I have a good job.) There was quite a variety of videos. Some were clips of political pundits from news shows. Some were snippets of the debates or speeches. Others were "montages" or a compilation of gaffs or grimaces by a candidates aimed at making fun of them. Still others were short films that combined politics with entertainment.
Which ones do you think were the most popular? Do you think these videos helped to drum up enthusiasm for the election? Do you think these videos increased partisanship?
Here's a sample of videos:
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