Do you read things that you don’t like?

“What I will also suggest is that there are serious dangers in a system in which individuals bypass general interest intermediaries and restrict themselves to opinions and topics of their own choosing.” Cass Sunstein

In today’s world, the ability to obtain information and engage in avid dialogue through the Internet is something that has become part of our daily life. I used to be absolutely convinced that having all sorts of information readily available and at the tip of our fingers was a great thing. I still believe that it is a great thing, only that the problems and dangers that I used to see as consequences of the constant use of Internet did not include the possibility of self-alienation.

Lately I’ve been reading Cass Sunstein’s book The Republic.com and it was this book what made me realize how selective I’ve become regarding the news and information I read online.
Sunstein’s argument is one that is convincing and somewhat terrifying. I use the word terrifying because I personally identified with being selective with the topics and sources I read online. I was absolutely convinced that this way of receiving information on what is happening in the world is an efficient and good method for me. Consequently, I did not realize that this highly selective method reception of information was dragging me down a path of growing biases and single-sided knowledge of events and opinions in the world. I have become comfortable with reading news that either caught my attention or that I agreed with, nothing else!

And so I would like to recognize that it is important to learn to read and look for topics and news online that we usually don’t like or know about, maybe if we make an effort to expand our web-surfing horizons we will avoid falling into the habit of seeing only one side of the story.

Tell me… Do you think that we should read things that we don’t like?