There's a middle ground, and it's one we have to seek for ourselves. As someone who leans left, I enjoy reading the opinions of those leaning right (or Americans leaning left, which is still quite right for me as a European). This does give me a rather diverse worldview.
That said, there's also a lot of people I really don't care to hear about, because my time and attention is limited and the odds that they're going to be an enrichment of my world view is really low.
(Oh, and also: the only reason for me to downvote would be due to the remark about receiving downvotes. Next time, you might want to consider whether that remark adds to the conversation.)
I think the key point here is choice: e.g. if you want to go listen to people rail about the government, you stop by the local pub. If you want to talk about cooking you join another group / activity.
Networks like Twitter and Facebook don't really facilitate this behaviour - you're being sprayed by endless stream of opinions which aren't grouped or filtered in a way that would be meaningful to you.
That said, there's also a lot of people I really don't care to hear about, because my time and attention is limited and the odds that they're going to be an enrichment of my world view is really low.
(Oh, and also: the only reason for me to downvote would be due to the remark about receiving downvotes. Next time, you might want to consider whether that remark adds to the conversation.)