Breaking free of the echo chamber

By Matt Reese

Comfort is among our greatest desires, and our greatest enemies.

We each have a set of values and beliefs and we tend to be most comfortable when those values align with the people around us and are reinforced by the information we gather. This environment is often referred to as an echo chamber, which can feel very comfortable, familiar and safe. But there are some dangers.  

Melanie Wilt is a Clark County Commissioner with a career spent in the field of public relations, largely involving agriculture. She found herself in the global spotlight as a spokesperson for now world-famous Springfield, Ohio after comments about the Haitian immigrant population were made in debates leading up to the 2024 Presidential Election.

“What I witnessed was people feeding off of information that supported their own bias. If their bias was: ‘we don’t want people who don’t look like us in our community,’ then I’m going to go out there and look for information that will feed that bias.… Continue reading