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"Without any censorship, in the West fashionable trends of thought and ideas are carefully separated from those which are not fashionable; nothing is forbidden,
by tester756 5y ago
"Without any censorship, in the West fashionable trends of thought and ideas are carefully separated from those which are not fashionable; nothing is forbidden, but what is not fashionable will hardly ever find its way into periodicals or books or be heard in colleges. Legally your researchers are free, but they are conditioned by the fashion of the day
you're sure it's 1978, not 2021?
- mhh__ 5y agoCan you find any period in history when this is not true, it just seems like restating a fairly obvious fact about what happens to human society as it grows.
- tester756 5y ago>Can you find any period in history when this is not true Probably not. > it just seems like restating a fairly obvious fact about what happens to human society obvious and sad fact. >as it grows. why as it grows?
- mhh__ 5y agoMaybe it doesn't even need to grow but Eternal September's are definitely a real thing. When it comes to prescient-ness, reading some ancient Greek history (contemporaneously written) really changed my view in that if you read what (IIRC) Thucydides is writing about it's pretty much exactly the same as today ("An old man complained in the streets that the youths are spending too much time lounging around instead of fighting") but slower.
- xhkkffbf 5y agoIt's a bit of a circular definition. Certainly it shouldn't be surprised that the set of popular things is full of things that are popular. It shouldn't be a surprise that people are focused on fashionable topics since the notion of fashion is defined by what people are talking about.
- ithkuil 5y agoThe runaway effect though ensures that once was a small fashion becomes a stronger fashion until it overrepresents what people would otherwise naturally care about.