4 ms·

This is totally wrong. Public opinion is by far the biggest roadblock. Believing that only some evil rich people are in the way is a coping mechanism. Read Dav

This is totally wrong. Public opinion is by far the biggest roadblock. Believing that only some evil rich people are in the way is a coping mechanism. Read David Shor or Matt Yglesias on this.

User23 4y ago
You’re straw-manning. There is a solid argument with plenty of supporting evidence that a small minority observably has virtually all the political power in the United States[1]. That’s not to say public opinion is completely irrelevant, but when it can’t be directly controlled through mass media persuasion techniques it can be neutralized in various ways. Isn’t it interesting how the US is somehow evenly divided on so many “controversial” issues? One explanation is that those who are manipulating the public intentionally play up issues with that property. [1] https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B# https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-poli...
ethanbond 4y ago
Public opinion doesn’t develop technologies and materials and techniques. Huge, huge, huge amounts of capital does. Also note: I didn't ascribe evil to them at all, please don't put words in my mouth.
- lupire 4y ago
  In a democracy, public opinion controls the largest amount of capital in the world. The US Federal government spends Elon Musk's net worth every month or so.
  - MichaelZuo 4y ago
    More like every week, if you include pensions, medicare, medicaid, social security, etc...
  - ethanbond 4y ago
    Right, 330,000,000 people in aggregate control that capital through countless layers of abstraction explicitly designed to prevent the vast majority of it from being allocated quickly. And this is in general a good thing because it’s an important mitigation against autocracy and catastrophic negligence. The differences in the dynamics of these pools of capital are so enormous and so obvious I have to doubt that even you give your argument any credence.
  - ImHereToVote 4y ago
    Is the US Federal Government a democracy if the will of the people and political decisions negatively correlate? https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746 https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746
    - mistermann 4y ago
      Whether some is considered to be something (aka: "is") is typically just subconsciously checking off a few boxes, typically according to bias, which is affected by propaganda...and "democracy" has received a lot of marketing, and extra "guerrilla" marketing (Jan 6 coverage, etc) in the last few years.
Slava_Propanei 4y ago

This is totally wrong. Public opinion is by far the biggest roadblock. Believing that only some evil rich people are in the way is a coping mechanism. Read David Shor or Matt Yglesias on this.

User23 4y ago

You’re straw-manning. There is a solid argument with plenty of supporting evidence that a small minority observably has virtually all the political power in the United States[1]. That’s not to say public opinion is completely irrelevant, but when it can’t be directly controlled through mass media persuasion techniques it can be neutralized in various ways. Isn’t it interesting how the US is somehow evenly divided on so many “controversial” issues? One explanation is that those who are manipulating the public intentionally play up issues with that property. [1] https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B# https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-poli...

ethanbond 4y ago

Public opinion doesn’t develop technologies and materials and techniques. Huge, huge, huge amounts of capital does. Also note: I didn't ascribe evil to them at all, please don't put words in my mouth.

lupire 4y ago
In a democracy, public opinion controls the largest amount of capital in the world. The US Federal government spends Elon Musk's net worth every month or so.
- MichaelZuo 4y ago
  More like every week, if you include pensions, medicare, medicaid, social security, etc...
- ethanbond 4y ago
  Right, 330,000,000 people in aggregate control that capital through countless layers of abstraction explicitly designed to prevent the vast majority of it from being allocated quickly. And this is in general a good thing because it’s an important mitigation against autocracy and catastrophic negligence. The differences in the dynamics of these pools of capital are so enormous and so obvious I have to doubt that even you give your argument any credence.
- ImHereToVote 4y ago
  Is the US Federal Government a democracy if the will of the people and political decisions negatively correlate? https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746 https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746
  - mistermann 4y ago
    Whether some is considered to be something (aka: "is") is typically just subconsciously checking off a few boxes, typically according to bias, which is affected by propaganda...and "democracy" has received a lot of marketing, and extra "guerrilla" marketing (Jan 6 coverage, etc) in the last few years.

Slava_Propanei 4y ago