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I'd argue politics has probably always been just as corrupt, if not more corrupt than it is now. We just know about it because they found out that when exposed

I'd argue politics has probably always been just as corrupt, if not more corrupt than it is now. We just know about it because they found out that when exposed the average person just doesn't care.

StanislavPetrov 8y ago
One of many reasons we are seeing a crackdown on free speech and internet freedom in general. In the information age, having a monopoly on information is the grand prize. The ruling class is going to do everything in its power to regain that monopoly, and with it, control over an easily-influenced population.
samstave 8y ago
Exactly! Panama papers, koshoggi murder, arab spring, occupy movement, etc. there is a ton of light shone upon corruption. The problem is that the light does nothing to eliminate the flow of money being made from said corruption and thus that money is used to quash oppress and extinguish the light. Id say the most successful attempt in the US was the OWS movement, given how quickly it was brought down.
- rch 8y ago
  I don't think OWS reached anywhere close to the level of influence that the WUO/SDS movement had.
  - samstave 8y ago
    What was WUO/SDS? But occupy had the feds working with local LEOs with a supposed "kill list" to "take out leadership. They remodeled the front steps of the SF fed reserve due to them, and we're working with Oakland pd on how to deal with the protests and wound up planting agent provacatuers in the midsts to foment vandalism and sway public opinion against ows. But I am not familiar with what the ones you mentioned accomplished with respect to influence. Interested to know.
    - rch 8y ago
      > The Weather Underground Organization (WUO)... was a radical left-wing militant organization founded on the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan ... Weatherman organized in 1969 as a faction of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Underground https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Underground There are a number of books about the group (some by former members) that are worth reading, and there's also a documentary: -- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343168/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343168/

I'd argue politics has probably always been just as corrupt, if not more corrupt than it is now. We just know about it because they found out that when exposed the average person just doesn't care.

StanislavPetrov 8y ago

One of many reasons we are seeing a crackdown on free speech and internet freedom in general. In the information age, having a monopoly on information is the grand prize. The ruling class is going to do everything in its power to regain that monopoly, and with it, control over an easily-influenced population.

samstave 8y ago

Exactly! Panama papers, koshoggi murder, arab spring, occupy movement, etc. there is a ton of light shone upon corruption. The problem is that the light does nothing to eliminate the flow of money being made from said corruption and thus that money is used to quash oppress and extinguish the light. Id say the most successful attempt in the US was the OWS movement, given how quickly it was brought down.

rch 8y ago
I don't think OWS reached anywhere close to the level of influence that the WUO/SDS movement had.
- samstave 8y ago
  What was WUO/SDS? But occupy had the feds working with local LEOs with a supposed "kill list" to "take out leadership. They remodeled the front steps of the SF fed reserve due to them, and we're working with Oakland pd on how to deal with the protests and wound up planting agent provacatuers in the midsts to foment vandalism and sway public opinion against ows. But I am not familiar with what the ones you mentioned accomplished with respect to influence. Interested to know.
  - rch 8y ago
    > The Weather Underground Organization (WUO)... was a radical left-wing militant organization founded on the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan ... Weatherman organized in 1969 as a faction of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Underground https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Underground There are a number of books about the group (some by former members) that are worth reading, and there's also a documentary: -- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343168/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343168/