After reading this essay, my understanding of adding more dialogue to a debate is clearer than ever before. What I like best about Deborah Tannen’s essay is how she gives specific details on the effects of having an “adversarial frame of mind” impacts our daily lives. Tannen supports her claim about how the argument culture is shaping our lives by giving an example regarding the Holocaust that has long been a part of our history, but is now being questioned of its existence because we “assume there must be another side”. I believe that mass media promotes adversarial disposition by creating conflict between groups in order to control society’s opinion and beliefs. According to Bryant & Oliver (2009), “Mass media transmit the ideas, values, norms, attitudes, and behavior that socialize and construct the social reality of those who use them for a wide variety of reasons”. Traditional news broadcast reported on local and national events and gave objective views in the commentary segments. In today’s news broadcast, mainstream media has created a new format as Feldman (2011) noted as being, “…in favor of a more overly opinionated presentation style” (p.1). As society relies on information on important issues
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