Dr. DeSoto has provided a clear-headed, engaging, and much needed discussion and analysis of the current political and ideological divides and the factors that worsen them. The mixture of psychological and biological biases with social-media-driven distortions creates the perfect storm that exacerbates divisions, and in doing so undermines social cohesion. Dr. DeSoto explores how this toxic mix is affecting us in the context of todays hot-button issues. This important book is a must read. David C. Geary, author of Children's Mathematical Development and contributor to the 1999 Mathematics Framework for California Public Schools; Curators' Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychological Sciences and Interdisciplinary Neuroscience, University of Missouri "The freedom of speech is founded on the notion that in the marketplace of ideas, the truth will eventually prevail. But in the world of digital media platforms like Google, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram, we may never find the truth, as cleverly devised algorithms narrow what we see and hear, and reward our blindered journey with persistent positive reinforcement. Psychology scholar Catherine DeSoto draws upon social psychology and our neural circuitry to explain how we are being increasingly polarized by our media feeds." Christopher R. Martin, professor of digital media, University of Northern Iowa, and author of No Longer Newsworthy: How the Mainstream Media Abandoned the Working Class
In Lies of Omission, Catherine DeSoto has written something as timely as it is important. As Professor DeSoto explains in detail, and with examples covering a number of critical and polarizing issues of the day, our very democracy is in jeopardy from a prevailing culture of intolerance and lack of curiosity for opposing views. But this culture, DeSoto explains, has not arisen out of nowhere. It has been created, and cultivated on a daily basis, by news outlets and social media companies that increase sales and views, and therefore, profits by providing informationmany times with missing pieces and contextwhich affirms our own biases and encourages anger and even hatred for others who do not share these biases. What is lost in the process is truth and honest inquiry and debate, which are the very bedrock of any functioning democracy. We are left with a society torn asunder by tribal-like divisions that prevent us from grappling with and solving the very important issues of our daysome of these issues being literally life and death. This book will make you question what is true and factual in the world, and whether you have a viable path for discerning such things. But this is good. Like Plato sitting in the cave and wondering about how much the shadows on the walls accurately represent reality, we too must ask such important philosophical questions in a world where the shadows, through advanced technology and intentional manipulation, are becoming ever larger and leading us farther and farther away from truths that we must discover to save our very world. Dan Kovalik, labor and human rights lawyer, and author of Cancel This Book and No More War
