I ran across an interesting article entitled “The Not-So-Hidden Politics of Class Online.” As it turns out, the title is that of a book written by danah boyd, a social media researcher and this article was posted by boyd herself based on a talk she gave at the Personal Democracy Forum on June 30.

The overall idea that the internet continues our existing various divides rang true for me.

There’s a concept in sociology called “homophily.” It means birds of a feather stick together. Whites know whites. Democrats know Democrats. Urbanites know urbanites. Tech people know tech people. Rich people know rich people. And before you immediately start listing the people you know that aren’t like you, realize that this is the auto-reaction to an uncomfortable reality (more colloquially noticeable when people refer to “my black friend…”). Structurally, social networks are driven by homophily even when there are individual exceptions. And sure enough, in the digital world, we see this manifested right before our eyes.

I think it is fair to say that is pretty much what we have all experienced in the Virginia blogosphere. I’m hoping that the Virginia Free Press changes all that.

Although we are just getting started, we can count amongst our editorial group Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians. We are young and not so young, white and black, Catholic, Protestant and non-religious, urban and rural. What we have in common is an interest in many things, with politics at the top of that list, and a desire to conduct a civil conversation about them. We can – and we will – disagree, but without being disagreeable. And perhaps we can learn a thing or two from each other.

Hang on – and enjoy the ride!

F. T. Rea
Jason Kenney
Mark Blacknell
Mark Brooks
Rick Sincere
Shaun Kenney
Vivian J. Paige

Please visit our About VFP page for more info.