Preface: Political Tolerance and Democratic Life

Summary

The late twentieth century has witnessed astonishing technological advances that make information readily and widely available. In fact, people today are bombarded with information, to the point of what some have referred to as “information overload.” Political events are covered twenty-four hours a day by Cable News Network (CNN). Newspapers like USA Today inform us of these events in easily digestible pieces; some newspapers, such as the Washington Post, have news available on Internet, the new “information superhighway.” At any time of the day or night we can delve into the mass of political information at our fingertips and discover what is happening in the world. Making decisions when faced with this great quantity of information is daunting.

This book details how people come to make decisions, specifically concerning civil liberties issues, in light of new information. Almost every day we are confronted with stories about actual or potential infractions against a certain people's rights. Hate crimes, such as cross burnings or the vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, are not uncommon, and the passage of hate-crime laws to deter further actions by racist groups has become popular. Clashes between prolife and prochoice groups, and especially the recent murders of doctors who perform abortions, regularly make headline news. The influx of Haitian and Cuban refugees increases tensions in parts of the United States. Incidents of gay bashing and antihomosexual activities have gained particularly intensive news coverage, partly because of recent measures voted on in Oregon and Colorado.