3 ms·

Kings had secret agents and diplomats fooling around, sure. But you need the technical/societal advancements and the production surplus brought by modern civili

• TheOtherHobbes 5y ago
  Feudal cultures were far more limited and totalitarian in every possible way. Serfs literally weren't allowed to leave their villages without a good reason - like war. There was an intellectual monoculture with the Church using scare stories about the fate of the disobedient to terrify serfs into compliance. There was no access to books or personal development. You worked the land, you paid your tithes, and if you were lucky you survived the numerous famines, illnesses, bandit raids, and larger military campaigns, and passed your rented land on to one of your sons. The big difference between that kind of totalitarianism and the modern kind is the fact that the Church has been replaced a more diverse media. In fact there's less diversity than there appears to be. The liberal tradition means there's at least the possibility of independent thought, but it's less common than it might be. In the West, non-compliance and failure-to-be-useful are enforced with brutal economic sanctions. But you can at least think about starting a business and having some nominal independence - which wasn't an option in feudal times. But there's a proselytising corporate monoculture instead of a proselytising religious monoculture [1], and it's very hard for many to imagine that other systems may be possible - never mind better for them. [1] In many parts of the US, you get both.