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Desperate times call for desperate measures. Most of that growing group of people see their lives getting materially worse over time. It makes sense that they’d

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Most of that growing group of people see their lives getting materially worse over time. It makes sense that they’d be desperate and incurious enough to hitch their wagon to a strongman figure who says the things they desperately want to hear. The governments of the western world have done a pretty bad job on the whole with making the lives of the people better. Reversing that trend would do a lot to help solve the problem (few people want to overthrow governments when they are safe and content).

the-dude 6y ago
Oh please. I watched some Dutch historical TV footage over the last week. The years after WWII were atrocious, there was shortage of housing, clothing, etc. The 70s and 80s were not without problems either ( I vividly remember the 80s ). Existential threat, bad economy, high unemployment.
- showerst 6y ago
  A great many of the people involved were not alive as adults in the 70s and 80s.
  - the-dude 6y ago
    I was not alive right after WWII either and can still acknowledge that in 80s we were materially better off, despite there were troubles then too.
minikites 6y ago
>few people want to overthrow governments when they are safe and content People who are safe and content don't make good consumers. It's in the best interest of capitalism to keep us tired and afraid so "the market" can sell us solutions: https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1994/03/20/ https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1994/03/20/
- lasagnaphil 6y ago
  Reminds me of the infamous quote from Deleuze & Guattari’s Anti-Oedipus: “The death of a social machine has never been heralded by a disharmony or a dysfunction; on the contrary, social machines make a habit of feeding on the contradictions they give rise to, on the crises they provoke, on the anxieties they engender, and on the infernal operations they regenerate. Capitalism has learned this, and has ceased doubting itself, while even socialists have abandoned belief in the possibility of capitalism's natural death by attrition. No one has ever died from contradictions. And the more it breaks down, the more it schizophrenizes, the better it works, the American way.”

the-dude 6y ago

Oh please. I watched some Dutch historical TV footage over the last week. The years after WWII were atrocious, there was shortage of housing, clothing, etc. The 70s and 80s were not without problems either ( I vividly remember the 80s ). Existential threat, bad economy, high unemployment.

showerst 6y ago
A great many of the people involved were not alive as adults in the 70s and 80s.
- the-dude 6y ago
  I was not alive right after WWII either and can still acknowledge that in 80s we were materially better off, despite there were troubles then too.

minikites 6y ago

>few people want to overthrow governments when they are safe and content People who are safe and content don't make good consumers. It's in the best interest of capitalism to keep us tired and afraid so "the market" can sell us solutions: https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1994/03/20/ https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1994/03/20/

lasagnaphil 6y ago
Reminds me of the infamous quote from Deleuze & Guattari’s Anti-Oedipus: “The death of a social machine has never been heralded by a disharmony or a dysfunction; on the contrary, social machines make a habit of feeding on the contradictions they give rise to, on the crises they provoke, on the anxieties they engender, and on the infernal operations they regenerate. Capitalism has learned this, and has ceased doubting itself, while even socialists have abandoned belief in the possibility of capitalism's natural death by attrition. No one has ever died from contradictions. And the more it breaks down, the more it schizophrenizes, the better it works, the American way.”