Is the free world in mortal danger? Psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt argues that social media has fractured US society so deeply that the world’s most powerful democracy is struggling to survive.
America is now two countries says writer
Fragmentation nation: Democrats are represented by donkeys and Republicans by elephants in the USA. Glossary
Prosecution - To officially accuse someone in court of having taken part in a crime.
Republican Party - Also known as the Grand Old Party or GOP, it is one of the USA's two major political parties. Its first president was Abraham Lincoln. It sits on the right of the political spectrum.
Jonathan Haidt - An American social psychologist and author. Haidt has previously worked personally with Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook’s role in society.
Constitution - A document that sets out the fundamental rules according to which a country is governed, which are usually difficult to change.
Democrats - Members of the Democratic party, the left-leaning US political party. Joe Biden and Barack Obama are both Democrats.
Boon - A helpful thing.
Authoritarian - Enforcing strict obedience to authority.
Algorithms - Any set of rules followed by a computer. In the context of social media, “the algorithm” refers to the intelligent AI that learns the interests of the user and presents them with posts that it thinks will interest them.
James Madison - The fourth American president, serving from 1809 to 1817. He was also one of the Founding Fathers who drafted the US Constitution.
Polarisation - When people tend to flock towards extreme opposite points of view. Some think that polarisation is bad for politics, because it makes co-operation between people on opposing sides of a debate less likely. Others welcome it, however, because it offers voters clear alternatives in elections.
Populism - A type of politics that claims to represent the common people in the fight against a powerful and "elite" establishment.