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Everything Is Being Ruined By Nutpicking
Once you see it, you can’t unsee it
Americans continue to decry the rapid polarization of the nation. Extremism feels like it is on the rise. Reasonable independents and people who like to stand firmly on the middle ground continue to feel voiceless and adrift in a sea of chaos. This state of affairs has proliferated and deepened since the election of Donald Trump in 2016. One of the biggest culprits of the dreadful place we’ve found ourselves in is the practice of nutpicking. If you have never heard of nutpicking, you are not alone. Nutpicking is an industry term used primarily by journalists that has not escaped into the mainstream, but it is affecting our lives every single day.
Nutpicking is the practice of trawling the internet for the craziest, basest, most foul and vile, and more extreme examples of something and then holding it up to make a point.
The Urban Dictionary definition reads:
The practice of sifting through the comments of blogs, email threads, discussion groups and other user generated content in an attempt find choice quotes proving that the advocates for or against a particular political opinion are unreasonable, uninformed extremists.
That definition was written in 2006, and it has never been more true. Regular people partake in…
