Right and Left Wing Ideologies and the Internet’s Influence on Politics
by Curt Welborn

It is well established that the Internet has a great deal of influence on every aspect of our lives. There has become an information explosion and circulation reaching far corners of the world in ways never imagined by earlier generations. It has contributed to the concept of globalization against nationalism, as countries once separated by extreme distance are drawn closer through the spread of vast amounts of information and disinformation on numerous topics. A recent debate by scientists explores how social networks for example Facebook, impact our choices in a number of areas (Harvard University Law School, February 15, 2013). Elliot Shrug, the vice president for public policy and communications at Facebook said, “We think these technologies of connection, not just Facebook, are creating a revolution.” In other words, social media through the internet allows people to influence their friend’s attitude and opinion. Just like in a school yard , small children will join the other kids in bullying or misbehaving in ways that they would not do individually on their own. Teenagers join groups and behave in socially inappropriate ways in a similar format. Both groups do this to seek attention and acceptance, and because of pressure from their peers. It is not a far leap to assume a certain group could persuade those seeking acceptance to vote for a certain class president or class policy. With Social Media, politics, left and right can be influenced by friendships, information, misinformation and “fake news.”
The level of political and ideological division and separation has been a daunting, pending concern to the extensive American populace. Both right and left wing inhabitants promote different degrees of diverging attributes they may consider valid. The right and left wing have the mutual parallel distinction in common as they both typically deem the others stance as inequitable and corrupt. 
Society is presumably on the cusp of a social revolutionary moment , during which it will be of great importance to redefine what may be socially appropriate and acceptable behavior in our human interaction. Postings on social networking sites disclose unexpected, astonishing details for many users when it comes to revealing the political thoughts and opinions of the friends they correspond with online. One study determined that roughly about four out of ten people discovered disconcerting information about their friends from expressive postings (Pew Research, August 14, 2012). Their friends political beliefs differed from what they may have allegedly assumed firsthand. It leads some to hide, unfriend, or even block someone on the site due to their distaste for frequent or simply disagreeable postings that are observed by the individual. 
Prior to the internet, politicians had to get their message out to the voter through traditional media sources such as newspapers and television. Therefore a relatively small group could filter and make the decision about what was presented to the general public. With the internet and more importantly with social media, anyone has the ability to publish their own views and reach a vast spectrum of people. There are no safeguards with the internet or social media. The manner in which our social sites are programmed, users can follow pages of their preferred topics and connect with other people or groups that have accessibly similar perspectives. People become more amplified in their beliefs the more time they spend entertaining a thought or talking about it even if new information is presented. Anyone can create a blog, comment, and espouse whatever views or theories they have. They can even upload a video as a visual example butchering and manipulating the meaning of what occurs on camera. Everyone can discover their own little niche and immerse themselves into whatever they may stumble upon. It is incumbent of the reader to fact check and be aware of where the information is coming from and if it is a valid source. 
With respect to the current state of politics, it seems that both sides have a tendency to spin their own agenda, their own truths. Often enough it is what information is left out of an opinion that is of importance.A different slant on this argument is that conservatives are self-interested, whereas liberals are self-interested under the guise of realizing their "vision" of how the world should be. Liberals dream of equality and evenly dispersed multicultural neighborhoods but humans are innately opposed to this. Humans recognize danger, difference and change in their surroundings as a primary mechanism for survival, even if this is often unfortunately baseless and irrational. I think that's why conservatism is more popular amongst the less educated because it is more visceral, it recognizes and responds to people's basic prejudices and fears. Conservatives recognize that humans are flawed and the best outcomes you can achieve are through bargaining and trade-offs (again, this is quite off what the current Republican Party and indeed Liberal Party resemble - essentially superficially professional opposition parties). Liberals seem to consider it incumbent upon themselves as the educated, the anointed, to radically transform societal values, and proselytise "political correctness" - how people should think and talk.They roll-out hugely ambitious and potentially destined to fail policy programs based on what they think society should look like. Using the vast resources available to a sovereign nation to sway opinion is a very disturbing reality. They can create false stories to suit their own agenda. With the population having their connection to unlimited, unfiltered knowledge, carrying the world around with them in their pocket and receiving their news from social media could potentially be an Achilles heal to democracy as we know it.