I am in the UK, so we have different issues but the general problem is the same - people assume their point of view is the only correct one and, by inference, everyone else is wrong. I was talking to someone recently on a subject and he made a statement and said: That's what everyone thinks.
I had to stop him and explain that it might be what all of his friends on Facebook think, but that's a small group of like-minded individuals and may not represent society as a whole. I think this was a new idea to him.
Thank you, Neil; that appears to be an important downside of Facebook and its ilk -- it becomes an echo chamber that merely increases the intolerance level of its circle for opinions differing from those of the group. Because it is beyond arms' length, the tone deteriorates as well; not only are you wrong but you're a bad person as well.
I do hope you will read my posts here; I have about 90 of my essays posted and a few hundred more to post as I have time -- I'm rather prolific :). Please, if you agree, do recommend me to other readers, like-minded and otherwise as well. I'm quite tolerant.
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I like echo chamber, that's a good way of putting it.
The other thing I mentioned in the discussion was confirmation bias, where you assign more importance to something which confirms what you already thought and less so to something which disagrees. So even if you do encounter the odd person with the opposite opinion your brain will filter it out.
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Exactly, that's the principle behind your whole point and completely valid.
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