Fascinating post at the Marginal Revolution about “Red” and “Blue” books. Basically, with few exceptions the left and the right don’t read the same political books. No wonder each side thinks the other is from outer space!
I have some personal experience with this phenomenon, as You Can’t Say That! has definitely turned out to be a “red book.” I had hoped my book would have some crossover appeal. It can be construed as an “anti-PC” book on the one hand, but also as an appeal for true diversity and pluralism, and for ACLU free speech liberals to retake the high ground from the censorious elements on the left. Well, Amazon has a list of nineteen books bought by folks who bought my book, and every single one of them is a libertarian or conservative book. As Mike Rappaport notes, contra Cass Sunstein, it’s on the internet, and not in the traditional media world, where people tend to get exposed to viewpoints that challenge their own.
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