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"Ambivalence?" All I've been hearing on HN for the past year plus is comparisons to fascism, the Nazis and the Anti-Christ. That said, at least Mussolini made

"Ambivalence?" All I've been hearing on HN for the past year plus is comparisons to fascism, the Nazis and the Anti-Christ. That said, at least Mussolini made the trains run on time and the Nazis were pretty efficient, which is more than can be said for the Trump administration's first week...

L_Rahman 10y ago
Ah, but it's a mistake to think of HN as representative of the Valley in any way and even if it were it's hard to gauge whether your perception of it matches what it really is. What I've discovered (thanks to helpful nudging from /u/dang) is that this is a community with a variety of ideologies and geographies. We see in the community the things that we're primed to see. For example if you have strong feelings in either direction about the links between Trump and fascism, you're more likely to perceive that it is the dominant view even if it's only held by and discussed by a small group of people. Link to /u/dang's comment where they explained this to me: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13083111 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13083111
wiml 10y ago
Point of trivia: Mussolini didn't even make the trains run on time.
- gumby 10y ago
  Actually he "did" -- in quotes because he put out alternative facts -- propaganda -- to that effect. Little known fact: the original word for the kinds of publicity companies use to grow demand for their product was "propaganda" (propagate the goods, get it?) coined by Edward L Bernays, Freud's nephew and the first formalizer of advertising.[1] After Germany appointed a minister of advertising ("Propaganda"), the industry decided it needed a new name. Now we have a journalist/propagandist on the National Security Council. Should be interesting. Did you know Alan Kay was on Reagan's? He (Alan) has some hysterical stories of his time on the NSC. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_(book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_(book)

L_Rahman 10y ago

Ah, but it's a mistake to think of HN as representative of the Valley in any way and even if it were it's hard to gauge whether your perception of it matches what it really is. What I've discovered (thanks to helpful nudging from /u/dang) is that this is a community with a variety of ideologies and geographies. We see in the community the things that we're primed to see. For example if you have strong feelings in either direction about the links between Trump and fascism, you're more likely to perceive that it is the dominant view even if it's only held by and discussed by a small group of people. Link to /u/dang's comment where they explained this to me: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13083111 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13083111

wiml 10y ago

Point of trivia: Mussolini didn't even make the trains run on time.

gumby 10y ago
Actually he "did" -- in quotes because he put out alternative facts -- propaganda -- to that effect. Little known fact: the original word for the kinds of publicity companies use to grow demand for their product was "propaganda" (propagate the goods, get it?) coined by Edward L Bernays, Freud's nephew and the first formalizer of advertising.[1] After Germany appointed a minister of advertising ("Propaganda"), the industry decided it needed a new name. Now we have a journalist/propagandist on the National Security Council. Should be interesting. Did you know Alan Kay was on Reagan's? He (Alan) has some hysterical stories of his time on the NSC. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_(book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_(book)