Allow me to ramble a bit. I’ve been thinking about how social media can brainwash us. I’ve concluded that little, if anything, contributes more to the polarization in our country than social media. And I’m not talking about disinformation campaigns or armies of bots in Russia or China. I’m talking about the algorithm, the mysterious lines of computer code that determines what sites like YouTube serve up for you to see.

Consider that YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine. It draws lots of eyeballs. And we’re not always cognizant of what it does to us. Let’s try an experiment. Go to YouTube. In the search bar, type “corrupt cop.” You’ll get a handful of suggestions like corrupt cops caught in the act, corrupt cops caught on camera, corrupt cops arrested and fired, and so on. You’ll get a similarly long list of suggestions if you search on bad cops, dirty cops, and stupid cops. Pick a few of the categories, and start watching the videos in sequence. Short ones, long ones, new ones, old ones, it doesn’t matter. Just watch a dozen or so. The algorithm will conclude that you have a keen interest in that subject, and will start serving up bad cop videos on your future YouTube sessions, even if you haven’t entered anything in the search bar. There are thousands upon thousands of these videos, and the more you watch, the more the platform will feed to you. After weeks and months of seeing violent, control freak cops with foul mouths, bloated egos, and little knowledge of the law or Constitution, you’ll inevitably begin to believe that most cops are like the ones you see in the videos: tyrannical, bullying, and corrupt, nothing more than thugs who somehow managed to pass a civil service exam so they could run roughshod over the public. Reading the comments below the videos will reinforce this impression, as people post cliched responses like “earning the hatred every day,” and “there is no situation in the world that cannot be made worse by the presence of police.” You’ll wonder why so many people in America can’t seem to see or acknowledge what is so obvious to you: cops are the world’s biggest street gang, and they are out of control.

After a few weeks of this, open YouTube in a different browser, so the platform doesn’t know it’s you. This time search on the terms like “good cop” and “hero cop.” You’ll get hundreds of videos about cops rescuing kids lost in the woods, saving people from kidnappers and vicious dogs, pulling people from burning cars and burning buildings. You’ll see cops buying proper car seats for parents who can’t afford them, rather than ticketing the parents for failing to properly secure their child. Buying a replacement bicycle for an autistic kid who had his stolen.Even adopting at-risk youth. The more such videos you watch, the more the algorithm will feed you similar ones. It’ll put them in your queue even on days when you haven’t entered any search terms. After weeks and months of seeing brave, selfless public servants saving lives and property, you’ll inevitably begin to believe that most cops are like the ones you see in these videos: underappreciated, underpaid, quietly holding civilization together and keeping us all safe. Reading the comments will reinforce this impression, as people post “back the blue,” “we support the police,” and “blue lives matter.” You’ll wonder why so many people in America can’t seem to see or acknowledge what is so obvious to you: all cops are heroes, and the first people the haters are going to call when danger threatens.

So who is right — the supporters or the detractors? Watching videos won’t give you enough information to know. As of 2022, there were 708,000 law enforcement officers in the United States. If you watched videos about 1,000 different bad cops, those people made up just 0.14% of the total. Ditto with the thousand good cops you saw on the second set of videos. That’s a sample rate of 14 cops per ten thousand. A drop in the bucket. But it doesn’t matter, because the videos that had the greatest emotional impact on you, whether good or bad, have likely made up your mind for you.

It’s not just law enforcement: what you think about doctors, lawyers, politicians,or preachers as a group is largely determined by the sources of information you consume. The same process is at work with almost any controversial subject. Is the American dream dead? Is the country systematically racist? Are the rich paying their fair share of taxes(whatever that is)? Are Covid vaccines safe and effective? Does gun control reduce crime, or just create more unarmed victims for criminals to prey on? Which political party is home of the good guys?

The induced bias creates a vicious circle. People tend to choose their information sources to match their preexisting opinions. Liberals will get their news from CNN or MSNBC. They’ll read the New York Times or the Washington Post. They’ll listen to NPR. They’ll laugh along with Kimmel and Colbert. Conservatives will watch Fox News, read the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Examiner and listen to conservative talk radio. On Facebook, both sides self-select into like-minded groups, unfollowing those who disagree with them, and confining ourselves to ideological echo chambers. This feels good, because it gives us the luxury of ridiculing the supposed stupidity of the other side without ever having to give their ideas a complete hearing. No wonder we’re so polarized.

When it comes to free media, I am wary. I like to keep in mind the fact that I’m not the customer — I’m the product. YouTube’s customers are its advertisers, not its users. YouTube, Facebook, and the legacy TV networks , are all selling me to their advertisers. They’re selling access to my eyeballs, my attention span. They know that the algorithm (YouTube and Facebook) or the bias of the hosts (TV news) will segregate people into neatly differentiated demographic blocks. These blocks can be precisely defined and described, making them more valuable to advertisers. The media companies are serving us up on a platter, and getting paid handsomely for it. They don’t care what it does to the fabric of society.

I wonder what would happen if we all did our own research and refused to be played?