Jonath Goldberg at The Dispatch:
Here’s a small life hack: If you’re a right-winger, you should read more left-wing stuff, particularly if you currently don’t read any at all. And, if you’re a left-winger, vice versa. I used to read a lot of left-wing stuff. Indeed, for years I probably read more left-wing stuff than right-wing, and I think it made me a better conservative. Sometimes, you might say I was “monitoring enemy communiques,” and other times I was just reading interesting things I disagreed with. There are a bunch of reasons you should read outside your comfort zone. Of course, in my line of work, a certain amount of it is simply due diligence. But even for the regular intellectually or politically engaged citizen, it’s a good idea. Pat Moynihan was right when he said everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. But what that aphorism leaves out is that different groups can pay attention to different sets of facts. It’s not necessarily that one group has a “different truth” than another group (though that certainly happens)—it’s that each group emphasizes, includes, or excludes different information. Reading widely can simply help you discover facts that get lost in the narratives of your own side. Also, if the writer is both good and honest (some writers are good, but not honest), they can also help you understand that the other side has decent people who simply disagree with you in good faith.