How to break out of your filter bubble in one simple step
The step is very simple. It does not take very long to say it. In fact, this introductory sentence is already several times longer than the words necessary to simply state it in a straightforward manner, so here goes:
Learn Swedish.
This might seem a surprising move, but think about it. Filter bubbles are all about only ever encountering the same kinds of information over and over and over again. If you only know a single language — it’s bound to be English, since you are reading this — then the information you encounter on a regular basis is phrased in this one language. By expanding your linguistic reach, you are also expanding the range of information you can take in.
Why Swedish? you might ask. Well, the thing about getting out of your filter bubble is that it requires you to acquire new impressions and sources of information, preferably far removed from your ordinary everyday routines. Swedish is about as far away from your Anglophone lifeworld as you can get. Not least because you would be hard pressed to find a solid, iron-clad rational reason to embark on learning this particular language. It is so far removed from your previous experience that it cannot but force you to see the world through new eyes. Its very remoteness makes Swedish ideal for breaking out of whatever filter bubble you want to break out of. Success is virtually guaranteed.
There is also an ideological dimension to choosing Swedish in particular. A hundred years ago, a socialist workers union took hold of the reins of state power in the kingdom of Sweden, and then stayed in power almost non stop since then. This has caused the Overton window to default very far to the left indeed. In fact, it has moved so far to the left that even the staunchest of Swedish conservatives are hardcore leftists in comparison to anyone who label themselves conservative in the Anglophone world. Liberals are explicitly defined as right wing, which (if you are reading from the US) should confuse you just enough to get the point across.
Learning Swedish will also enable you to partake of the rich socialist history and literature created over the last century. Works written primarily for a Swedish audience will by necessity concern itself with different ideological assumptions than works created for an Anglophone market. So will political discussions. Sweden has had universal healthcare and civilized multi-party electoral systems since before the Moon landings, and treat these things as fundamental bedrocks of polite political discourse rather than utopian ideals that can never be realized in this (or any other) world. Given the goal of escaping ideological filter bubbles, this is a dramatic shift in perspective indeed. It is an absolute unit of a bubble pop.
At this point, a reasonable reader might wonder at the logistics of getting started. There are, after all, very few real life Swedes (or Finns from the Swedish-speaking parts of the country) to learn from, and if this advice were to be taken up en masse, there would simply not be enough for everyone. The very thing that makes Swedish so ideal for the purposes of breaking out of filter bubbles — its scarcity of intuitive relevance and relative obscurity — also makes it difficult to attain. There is a very real risk of not having a Swede at hand to learn from, and as we all know, high-frequency exposure and immersion is key to learning a language. This poses a problem.
Fortunately, there is an alternative. Spanish, while not as uniquely suited as Swedish for the purpose of popping filter bubbles, has the advantage of accessibility. All over the US, there are whole communities and geographical regions where Spanish is the lingua franca, and thus there are ample opportunities to learn from those who live and work near you. In fact, it could be argued that the fact that so many Anglophones do not know Spanish, whilst also living in very close proximity to Latino communities, constitutes a brutally tangible part of the filter bubble in and of itself. It has been said that the borderlands do not necessarily have to be close to la frontera.
Think about it. Det är aldrig för sent att lära sig.
[Shameless self-promotion: you can find most of my writings listed here.]
