While researching causes of polarization in America, I discovered Chris Bail’s work at the Duke Polarization Lab, which shines light on the role social media plays in polarizing the country. His studies are accessible, based on observable, repeatable experiments, and he connected computational analysis to relatable human subjects. To help bring art to his science, I considered our current canaries in the coalmine: comedians, who have unwittingly found themselves on the frontlines of our perceived conflicts with each other. I could think of no better vehicles for our story. At its best, humor lets us examine a challenging issue communally. This has been an essential function of art: inviting complex and dangerous ideas to engage our emotions and intellect, while holding them framed in imagination and at a safe distance. 

An animated democracy requires humor to help mediate our disagreements, but its effectiveness is being whittled away by our reactions to today’s digital environments. Through the thoughts of these comedians—themselves natural social scientists—my goal is to speak to those tired of conflict and who want to make things better, which the data says is most of us. The majority of Americans hold more centrist views than we are led to believe and do not fall along strict party lines. Their largely silenced voices need to be lifted to help drown out the flood of invective that is now characterizing our lives and devastating our politics. We cannot change human nature but that does not mean we are doomed to succumb to the worst of it.

- Rob Feld