Echo chamber

[[File:CircleJerksBySteveHopson.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Keith Morris of the Circle Jerks: he looks like he would hurt your ears in an echo chamber]]
{{Psychology}}
{{cquote|The most frequent question we get asked about this show is why would [[asshole]]s like Brian Brown or [[Michael Medved]] come on a show called ''[[Penn_&_Teller:_Bullshit!|Bullshit!]]'' to get called assholes. We do not [[lie]] to them. We make sure they know all about the show. We give them copies of past shows. And it's always pretty clear which side of the issue we're going to be on.
The long answer is that people who come on this show [[Dunning-Kruger_effect|genuinely consider themselves to be bulletproof]]. Most have never talked to anyone with a dissenting view, and certainly no one with a ''real'' research team, like ours. If you say something on our show, we check it. If you lie or make something up, we know. But we're fair and we never take people out of context. We're [[bias]]ed as all-fuck, but we ''try'' to be honest. Now that's the long answer. The short answer is, [shrug]|||[[Penn Jillette]], ''[[Penn & Teller: Bullshit!]]''<ref>[[Penn & Teller: Bullshit!]], episode 3.02, ''Family values''</ref>}}
An '''echo chamber''', also known as an '''ideological echo chamber'''<ref name=Facebook /> or a '''circle jerk/circlejerk''' in internet slang, or the more longwinded '''closed ideology echo chamber''',<ref name=AAV>[http://anotherangryvoice.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/closed-ideology-echo-chamber.html What is ... a Closed Ideology Echo Chamber?], ''Another Angry Voice''</ref> is a closed ideological system where information, ideas and beliefs supporting its viewpoint are spread around uncritically, while dissenting views are censored and/or ignored. In [[business]]-speak, it is known as '''organizational siloing'''. Most echo chambers rely on [[indoctrination]] and [[propaganda]] in order to disseminate information (subtly or otherwise) that will coerce those stuck in the chamber into conformity, as well as preventing them from having the critical thinking skills required to discredit obvious misinformation.

Symptoms of the '''echo chamber effect''' include extreme [[Wingnut|wingnuttery]] and [[Moonbat|moonbattery]], listening to [[Alex Jones|Alex]] [[David Icke|Icke]], and believing everyone who believes something different to you is working for the [[Illuminati]], {{wpl|Rockefeller family#Conservation|the Rockefellers,}}  [[Reptiloids]], and/or an [[international Jewish conspiracy]] against the [[Goy|goyim]]. Other common features of echo chambers include: identification of the enemy and their beliefs (and thus discrediting anything that came from them), cultural [[tribalism]],<ref group=note>The echo chamber concept is closely linked to tribalism, however it does not (necessarily) have the morally superior undertones that tribalism has. That being said, the two concepts ''do'' often go hand-in-hand, as anyone seeing Facebook comments on a political/religious/similar [[Facebook]] page can see for themselves.</ref> the targeting of perceived enemies,<ref group=note>or even engaging in mass demonstrations of hate, such as the {{wpl|Two Minutes Hate}} from Orwell's ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''. Although be warned when people bring up Orwell in conversation, as [[Nineteen Eighty-Four#Misuse_of_Orwell.27s_work|some of the people that Orwell's book influenced]] would have him turning in his grave right now.</ref> and the punishment of [[heretical]] thoughts and actions.<ref name=AAV />

==How it works==
{{cquote|It's also about closed systems of thought, whether they're political or theological, or religious, whatever. Systems by which whatever evidence is given to the person, he merely adapts it, fits it into his ideology. You show the same event to a [[Marxist]] and a [[Catholic]], for example – both of them are fine, they both have separate explanations for it. ... I mean once you've got, actually got an idea which is whirring around so fast, that no other light or contrary evidence can come in then I think it's very dangerous.|||[[John Cleese]] on Malcolm Muggeridge's echo chamber (with regards to ''[[Life of Brian]]'' criticism).<ref>[https://youtu.be/CeKWVuye1YE?t=2090 Friday Night, Saturday Morning - Monty Python's Life of Brian]</ref>}}
Observers of [[journalism]] in the mass media describe an echo chamber effect in media discourse.<ref>{{cite web|title=[http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/6/24/12059/5698 Moon the Messiah, and the Media Echo Chamber] |accessdate=4 June 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Jamieson | first = Kathleen Hall |author2=Joseph N. Cappella | title = [http://www.us.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Politics/AmericanPolitics/PoliticalCommunicationMediaStudi/?view=usa&ci=9780195366822 Echo Chamber: Rush Limbaugh and the Conservative Media Establishment] | publisher = Oxford University Press | isbn = 0-19-536682-4 }}</ref> One purveyor of information will make a claim, which many like-minded people then repeat, overhear, and repeat again (often in an exaggerated or otherwise distorted form)<ref>{{cite news | first=Robert | last=Parry | title=[http://baltimorechronicle.com/2006/122706Parry.shtml The GOP's $3 Bn Propaganda Organ] | date= 28 December 2006 | work =The Baltimore Chronicle | accessdate = 4 June 2015 }}</ref> until most people assume that some extreme variation of the story is true.<ref name='SourceWatch at 23:47, 22 October 2006'>{{cite web|title=[http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Echo_chamber SourceWatch entry on media "Echo Chamber" effect] |accessdate = 4 June 2015 |date=2006-10-22 |work=SourceWatch }}</ref> 

Participants in online communities often find views similar to their own [[Argumentum ad nauseam|constantly echoed back to them]], which can lead to a significant barrier in critical discourse during online communication. The echo chamber effect may also leave an impact on the recognition of large demographic changes if individuals only visit online communities that reinforce their worldview.<ref>{{Cite web| first=Kevin | last=Wallsten| contribution=Political Blogs: Is the Political Blogosphere an Echo Chamber?| title=American Political Science Association’s Annual Meeting| editor-first=| editor-last=| coeditors=| publisher=Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley| place=Washington, D.C.| pages=| date=2005-09-01| id= | contribution-url=| format=| accessdate= 4 June 2015| postscript=<!--None--> }}</ref>

==Examples==
Ideological echo chambers have been around for centuries, and many organised religions have been at the forefront of enforcing these ideologies, with harsh punishments for [[infidels]], [[Apostasy|apostates]], [[Blasphemy|blasphemers]] and/or [[Heresy|heretics]] who opposed these views. Nowadays, echo chambers impact people's views on a variety of topics, such as [[history]], [[economics]], [[politics]], and are carried out through the [[media]], and increasingly through the [[Internet]] via  sites such as [[InfoWars]], who are known for promoting almost every [[conspiracy theory]] under the sun.<ref name=AAV />

One example of the echo chamber effect in (somewhat) mainstream U.S. politics is with regards to [[Birtherism]], as many people continue to believe Obama is "[[No true Scotsman|not a real American]]", despite all the evidence to the contrary.<ref>{{cite web|last1=DiFonzo|first1=Nicholas|title=[http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/04/21/barack-obama-and-the-psychology-of-the-birther-myth/the-echo-chamber-effect?module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=undefined&action=keypress&region=FixedLeft&pgtype=blogs The Echo-Chamber Effect]|work=The New York Times|accessdate=4 June 2015}}</ref> 

Many users on [[social networking]] sites (such as [[Facebook]]<ref name=Facebook>{{cite web|title=[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/05/08/facebook_fesses_up_to_running_an_ideological_echo_chamber/ Facebook 'fesses up to running an ideological echo chamber]|publisher=The Register|accessdate=4 June 2015|date=8 May 2015}}</ref> and [[Twitter]])<ref>{{cite web|last1=Marcus|first1=Laura|title=[http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/aug/22/twitter-online-echo-chanber-leftwing Is Twitter anything more than an online echo chamber?]|publisher=[[The Grauniad]]|accessdate=4 June 2015|date=22 October 2012}}</ref> often live in echo chambers.

==See also==
*[[Filter bubble]]
*[[Groupthink]]
*[[Preaching to the choir]]
*[[Tribalism]]
*[[Walled garden]]

==External links==
*[http://anotherangryvoice.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/closed-ideology-echo-chamber.html Description of "Closed Ideology Echo Chamber"] by ''Another Angry Voice'', a [[left wing]] political blogger.
*[http://graphics.wsj.com/blue-feed-red-feed/ Blue Feed, Red Feed - See Liberal Facebook and Conservative Facebook, Side by Side]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|90%}}

[[Category:politics]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theories]]

Categories: politics, Conspiracy theories