I feel like we've become on the left and the right increasingly disrespectful of people who don't think the way we do. I see that on both sides and I see the web amplifying that tremendously. The incentives are in the other direction. In the internet, if you're a moderate, who's going to pay attention to you? You need to shout. And the angrier your shout is, the more pronounced your profile. We have kind of gone into these little war bands where they go looking for, you know, combat that will earn them undying fame.
Author Martin Gurri, Visiting Fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, talks about his book The Revolt of the Public with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Gurri argues that a digital tsunami--the increase in information that the web provides--has destabilized authority and many institutions. He talks about the amorphous nature of recent populist protest movements around the world and where we might be headed politically and culturally.