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That means the government and media successfully manufactured consent with the population. A majority of the US supported the War on Terror. That was manufactu

That means the government and media successfully manufactured consent with the population. A majority of the US supported the War on Terror. That was manufactured consent with thanks to the corporate press. It was only the outliers that protested from the beginning, only proven correct after 20 years, thousands of lives and trillions of dollars wasted in Afghanistan. Now that this has ended, be on alert for the next campaign of fear that will be used to erode freedom and increase the surveillance state. Australia is a look at the near future of western "democracy" if they are successful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent

ceilingcorner 5y ago
Democracy is rule by the media. This has been a criticism of it for hundreds of years.
lp0_on_fire 5y ago
> Now that this has ended, be on alert for the next campaign of fear that will be used to erode freedom and increase the surveillance state. You mean like a seemingly never-ending virus with a 99%+ survival rate?
systemvoltage 5y ago
Agreed. My expectation from a community like HN would be total rebellious culture from the mainstream attitude, full of interesting perspectives, data-backed arguments, anti-mob pro-objectivity discussions, and no shortage of nutjobs posting crazy theories - the good ol' hacker culture. What terrifies me is that HN community continues to double-down anything but mainstream and conformity. This is in direct relation to larger societal trends that you're highliting. Even the slightest neutral stance will get you downvoted. If no one on HN is doing the legwork for raising concerns, who will?
- christophilus 5y ago
  Plenty of us are still libertarian and think for ourselves. (Including you, I’d guess.) Every platform is likely to eventually reflect the most common forms of groupthink from the culture. The reason I love HN is that I regularly see counter points and good perspective here that I simply don’t see anywhere else.
raxxorrax 5y ago
Trillions of dollars wasted in the war but it should also be mentioned that the US lost over a trillion dollars shorty before the attacks on the world trade center. The war swept that topic from the table but the money has to be somewhere.

ceilingcorner 5y ago

Democracy is rule by the media. This has been a criticism of it for hundreds of years.

lp0_on_fire 5y ago

> Now that this has ended, be on alert for the next campaign of fear that will be used to erode freedom and increase the surveillance state. You mean like a seemingly never-ending virus with a 99%+ survival rate?

systemvoltage 5y ago

Agreed. My expectation from a community like HN would be total rebellious culture from the mainstream attitude, full of interesting perspectives, data-backed arguments, anti-mob pro-objectivity discussions, and no shortage of nutjobs posting crazy theories - the good ol' hacker culture. What terrifies me is that HN community continues to double-down anything but mainstream and conformity. This is in direct relation to larger societal trends that you're highliting. Even the slightest neutral stance will get you downvoted. If no one on HN is doing the legwork for raising concerns, who will?

christophilus 5y ago
Plenty of us are still libertarian and think for ourselves. (Including you, I’d guess.) Every platform is likely to eventually reflect the most common forms of groupthink from the culture. The reason I love HN is that I regularly see counter points and good perspective here that I simply don’t see anywhere else.

raxxorrax 5y ago

Trillions of dollars wasted in the war but it should also be mentioned that the US lost over a trillion dollars shorty before the attacks on the world trade center. The war swept that topic from the table but the money has to be somewhere.