7 ms·

> We of all people should know better. Not if Austria's 2016 presidential elections are anything to go by.

DominikR 10y ago
I'm in Austria, it was a disgrace. All of media was attacking the right wing guy with no dissenting voices, and you have to be afraid of personal and professional consequences if you endorse him or say anything against the Socialist candidate they are trying to push. It's literally like in the Soviet Union, at least that's what my parents told me as they came from a Communist country.
- mrcarrot 10y ago
  The media can't be very good at propaganda if they were 'all attacking the right wing guy' and he _still_ managed to poll almost 50% of the vote.
  - blfr 10y ago
    It's a feedback loop of adverse selection. They become more politically slanted, fewer people listen to them, their revenues plummet, their recruitment pool gets shallower, they become more politically slanted... At a certain point only true propaganda believers willing to work for ~minimum wage remain. Now, they're also getting hammered by social media hastening the process. The same thing happened to communists. After 50 years only idiots and sociopathic opportunists (since they still had the spoils of power) could be found in the party.
- golemotron 10y ago
  Just like the US this year. This is not an exaggeration. Many people would have professional and personal consequences for supporting Trump in public. People like Peter Thiel and Scott Adams have enough money to not care. Scott isn't even endorsing him and he says that his speaking engagements have dried up. We may see a big difference between the polling and the election results this year. The Shy Tory Effect came to America.
  - nbouscal 10y ago
    Scott Adams has been obviously supporting him since last August, his claims of endorsing other candidates have been very clearly not genuine.
  - sgc 10y ago
    Yeah, I had pretty major family problems for saying that I thought he was a lot of hot air and not actually that dangerous--with a disclaimer that I would never vote for him. Although my perspective on him has changed, it seems to me that the American left has turned into the authoritarian controlling power they so often claim to fight against.
    - eli_gottlieb 10y ago
      >Although my perspective on him has changed, it seems to me that the American left has turned into the authoritarian controlling power they so often claim to fight against. Only if you consider Clinton to be leftist, which really doesn't make much sense. https://www.politicalcompass.org/uselection2016 https://www.politicalcompass.org/uselection2016
      - Ar-Curunir 10y ago
        American left != Clinton.
        eli_gottlieb 10y ago
        I quite realize, but I don't see much authoritarian tendency in the parts leftward of Clinton. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders just aren't that authoritarian, let alone the Green Party.
        sgc 10y ago
        I was talking about the people adhering to the left--the social movement--more than the politicians themselves. The example I used was my own family, who are not politicians.

I'm in Austria, it was a disgrace. All of media was attacking the right wing guy with no dissenting voices, and you have to be afraid of personal and professional consequences if you endorse him or say anything against the Socialist candidate they are trying to push. It's literally like in the Soviet Union, at least that's what my parents told me as they came from a Communist country.

mrcarrot 10y ago
The media can't be very good at propaganda if they were 'all attacking the right wing guy' and he _still_ managed to poll almost 50% of the vote.
- blfr 10y ago
  It's a feedback loop of adverse selection. They become more politically slanted, fewer people listen to them, their revenues plummet, their recruitment pool gets shallower, they become more politically slanted... At a certain point only true propaganda believers willing to work for ~minimum wage remain. Now, they're also getting hammered by social media hastening the process. The same thing happened to communists. After 50 years only idiots and sociopathic opportunists (since they still had the spoils of power) could be found in the party.
golemotron 10y ago
Just like the US this year. This is not an exaggeration. Many people would have professional and personal consequences for supporting Trump in public. People like Peter Thiel and Scott Adams have enough money to not care. Scott isn't even endorsing him and he says that his speaking engagements have dried up. We may see a big difference between the polling and the election results this year. The Shy Tory Effect came to America.
- nbouscal 10y ago
  Scott Adams has been obviously supporting him since last August, his claims of endorsing other candidates have been very clearly not genuine.
- sgc 10y ago
  Yeah, I had pretty major family problems for saying that I thought he was a lot of hot air and not actually that dangerous--with a disclaimer that I would never vote for him. Although my perspective on him has changed, it seems to me that the American left has turned into the authoritarian controlling power they so often claim to fight against.
  - eli_gottlieb 10y ago
    >Although my perspective on him has changed, it seems to me that the American left has turned into the authoritarian controlling power they so often claim to fight against. Only if you consider Clinton to be leftist, which really doesn't make much sense. https://www.politicalcompass.org/uselection2016 https://www.politicalcompass.org/uselection2016
    - Ar-Curunir 10y ago
      American left != Clinton.
      - eli_gottlieb 10y ago
        I quite realize, but I don't see much authoritarian tendency in the parts leftward of Clinton. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders just aren't that authoritarian, let alone the Green Party.
        sgc 10y ago
        I was talking about the people adhering to the left--the social movement--more than the politicians themselves. The example I used was my own family, who are not politicians.