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>How much of the political theater is affected by this? IMHO the political theater is not affected by theatrics and narrative building. Theatrics and narrative

>How much of the political theater is affected by this? IMHO the political theater is not affected by theatrics and narrative building. Theatrics and narrative building are the very backbone of politics. Want to push a bill you consider appropriate? Nope, you'll have to generate outrage, participate in a couple of speaking engagements at conferences click-baity names, tweet a snarky remark that simplifies an otherwise complex topic to a petty "exchange", pander to the demographics most likely to agree with you. You're pro-gun rights? Hope for a terrorist attack! You're pro-gun confiscation? Hope for a school shooting! It's so disgusting, it's utterly worrying, sad, disgusting to see us engage one another in this way. Theatrics, opinion shaping, narrative building is the backbone of public spaces, therefore also of our media, of course also of our culture and definitely of our politics. If I had to coin a snarky sentence to shape the future for years to come I'd plaster the following everywhere as a warning to everyone regarding the very dystopian future we are building: It's about emotions, stupid! Oh, and they know. Social media, online communities, memes, viral content, Machine Learning all are very useful tools in furthering the feedback loop that lead our emotions to only spiral more and more out of control.

hosh 9y ago
I had thought much the same before, focusing on the theatrics, until I started working with a startup with lawyers and for lawyers. There was also a family matter that deeply affected my wife and I. My wife worked with a lawyer to regain custody of her child back from a screwed up situation. The product I was helping to write was related to what was affecting my family. There is a lot of thought put into policy and governance -- of what to do when the group of people are too large for everyone to know each other. Further, when I was introduced to the book Crucial Conversation, I realized that resolving conflicts among people without shared narrative does not have to happen this way. The book talks quite a bit about the typical reactions to crucial conversations -- violence and silence. That's exactly what I keep seeing when I see people talk about politics now, in the Trump era. So I disagree: the theatrics and narrative building is not the backbone of politics, though I will agree that those theatrics and narrative building is one of the core tools people typically use to gain and wield political power. There's the tool -- which may have alternatives -- and then there is what you are trying to accomplish with that tool. And thus, I come back to: How much of the political theater is affected by this? Isn't there a way for people to be inclusive and respectful of individuals?

hosh 9y ago

I had thought much the same before, focusing on the theatrics, until I started working with a startup with lawyers and for lawyers. There was also a family matter that deeply affected my wife and I. My wife worked with a lawyer to regain custody of her child back from a screwed up situation. The product I was helping to write was related to what was affecting my family. There is a lot of thought put into policy and governance -- of what to do when the group of people are too large for everyone to know each other. Further, when I was introduced to the book Crucial Conversation, I realized that resolving conflicts among people without shared narrative does not have to happen this way. The book talks quite a bit about the typical reactions to crucial conversations -- violence and silence. That's exactly what I keep seeing when I see people talk about politics now, in the Trump era. So I disagree: the theatrics and narrative building is not the backbone of politics, though I will agree that those theatrics and narrative building is one of the core tools people typically use to gain and wield political power. There's the tool -- which may have alternatives -- and then there is what you are trying to accomplish with that tool. And thus, I come back to: How much of the political theater is affected by this? Isn't there a way for people to be inclusive and respectful of individuals?