One issue with underdog narratives nowadays is that they tend to be applied to large groups of hundreds of thousands (or millions) of people. Even if there are general statistical truths, by their very nature those large groups still tend to be very diverse and dynamic at the individual level. And the most standout of those tend to be the rich and powerful elites, which the average Joe is comparing themselves to.
“My group” = all the normal hard working people in my personal life
“Their group” = the rich and powerful elites I see on Television or in the news
But of course the perspective is the exact same for the average Joe of the other group! Their group is all the normies in their life while your group is the elites of your side mentioned on TV and in the news. My left wing father would talk about the Koch Brothers and other right wing millionaires/billionaires/elites and some of the right wing adults in my life would mention people like George Soros and other left wing millionaires/billionaires/elites.
I don’t know if this is a big part of the explanation, but I do think it’s a meaningful part at least.
The hostile media effect is particularly striking because it arises in settings where there’s relatively little scope for bias. People watching media clips and sports are all seeing exactly the same videos. And sports in particular are played on very even terms, where fairness just means enforcing the rules impartially.
If your beliefs about the world = base reality then any straying away from your beliefs is inherently going to be interpreted as biased against (your) reality. We can all generally agree on the obvious stuff like when a tennis ball is clearly outside the lines but if it just skirted the paint and it’s hard to really tell then motivated reasoning starts to kick in, and your reality is whatever you want it to be.
And you don’t see “ok your tennis ball skirted the line but I think you got it in” as biased towards you, you just see it as them making the obvious correct acknowledgment of the world. Each ruling with you is a ruling that’s just going with obvious truth and each ruling against you is a biased denial of facts.
One issue with underdog narratives nowadays is that they tend to be applied to large groups of hundreds of thousands (or millions) of people. Even if there are general statistical truths, by their very nature those large groups still tend to be very diverse and dynamic at the individual level. And the most standout of those tend to be the rich and powerful elites, which the average Joe is comparing themselves to.
“My group” = all the normal hard working people in my personal life
“Their group” = the rich and powerful elites I see on Television or in the news
But of course the perspective is the exact same for the average Joe of the other group! Their group is all the normies in their life while your group is the elites of your side mentioned on TV and in the news. My left wing father would talk about the Koch Brothers and other right wing millionaires/billionaires/elites and some of the right wing adults in my life would mention people like George Soros and other left wing millionaires/billionaires/elites.
I don’t know if this is a big part of the explanation, but I do think it’s a meaningful part at least.
If your beliefs about the world = base reality then any straying away from your beliefs is inherently going to be interpreted as biased against (your) reality. We can all generally agree on the obvious stuff like when a tennis ball is clearly outside the lines but if it just skirted the paint and it’s hard to really tell then motivated reasoning starts to kick in, and your reality is whatever you want it to be.
And you don’t see “ok your tennis ball skirted the line but I think you got it in” as biased towards you, you just see it as them making the obvious correct acknowledgment of the world. Each ruling with you is a ruling that’s just going with obvious truth and each ruling against you is a biased denial of facts.