Are we a self-reinforcing bubble?

[Nick Armstrong]

I would say yes we are, and no it doesn't matter. Where this sort of thing matters is on platforms like Facebook where it's easy for people to get the impression that for example their political opinions are shared by most people when actually all they really know is they're shared by most of their "friends". This is why the Brexit referendum and Trump's election were such a shock to so many people.

Yes, I don't think it's about Forums like this where people consciously seek the pooled views and knowledge of others with similar interests. It's more about social media where - in addition - people get 'news feeds' and the like which algorithmically respond to their online fingerprint and hence supply very slanted news etc which reinforces their attitudes, prejudices and creates the bubble effect...

[kernelbogey]

[...](Same goes for the Ravel orcastration of Pictures!)

A whale of a piece...!

[gradus]

Killer comment.

[eighthobstruction]

....ooh thank goodness for this somewhat bulle de auto-renforcement in which I can have just a little soapy piece....

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

A whale of a piece...!

It gives me the hump.




C'mon - somebody wants to do the obvious one ... just don't make it too Blue.

[Nick Armstrong]

....ooh thank goodness for this somewhat bulle de auto-renforcement in which I can have just a little soapy piece....

you are the rainbow on our bubble, 8tho!

[ardcarp]

Members who don't subscribe to the left wing political values have been bullied off the forum by fellow forum members and politically biased moderators.

I can't remember when I last bullied anyone off the Forum.

[french frank]

I can't remember when I last bullied anyone off the Forum.

I think BO means me, in my former role

[ahinton]

I think BO means me, in my former role

Does BO stand for Bristol Oracle in that context?

[Conchis]

The arts generally (and the 'high arts' in particular) tend to attract people who are of a left wing bent, though there are notable exceptions.

Because of this there will always be occasional soi-disant gadflies who react to what they perceive to be a prevailing left-wing orthodoxy.

I'm under no illusions - this forum is an echo chamber, but I only have to poke my nose outside the door to understand that the views and interests shared by people on here are, by and large, not shared by the vast number of people in this country.

[DracoM]

A thread like this is surely trying to suggest that the diversity of the BBC is at stake, and if we / many of us lobby for all manner of different areas of the BBC, that is actually as it should be. Yes, this forum is a kind of bubble, but the BBC is a veritable prosecco bottle of bubbles, and we should rejoice at the fizz every one of those bubbles can bring to all our lives.
AND
to be more serious, we need to make sure that by keeping a close even eagle eye on what the BBC does / does not do, our children and children's children area at the very least exposed to that diversity. Let them make their choices by all means, but if there's only one kind of bread in the shop, [a] that is a dull bake shop, and [b], IMO that ain't choice.

So keep the bubble fizzing to all forumistas, I say!

[french frank]

I'm under no illusions - this forum is an echo chamber, but I only have to poke my nose outside the door to understand that the views and interests shared by people on here are, by and large, not shared by the vast number of people in this country.

I don't think one should expect a Radio 3 forum to be somehow representative of the population as whole, 'the vast number of people in this country'. If it's representative of the station audience as a whole that's surely as much as one could hope for - and that will be unrepresentative: older, atypical in its interests; atypical in 'social grade' and education … In that sense it's a self-reinforcing bubble, just as a miners' social club or a WI group would be.

[ahinton]

Bubbles can burst, or be burst; let's hope that this never happens here!

[richardfinegold]

The Internet has changed Modern Living. Not all of the developments are for the better, such as child pornographers, ISIS recruiters, etc, but one development that I am sure is a positive is the ability of people to find each other with like minded hobbies. I have had my horizons expanded more in 1 week of participation on this and the other Classical Music Forum that I partipate in than in I would learn in years of self directed exploration. Bubble? I have learned about more Composers, and performers, by participating here than I could have dreamt possible. Whoever is being quoted is a first rate twit

[kernelbogey]

Whoever is being quoted is a first rate twit

Aah yes, the Archbishop of Cantebury, IIRC....