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Yes, extreme ideologies (left and right wing) and authoritarian views are on the rise because of three factors playing out at the same time: 1. Globalisation s

Yes, extreme ideologies (left and right wing) and authoritarian views are on the rise because of three factors playing out at the same time: 1. Globalisation showing its cracks and becoming increasingly clear to be the reason for the skyrocketing of inequality and the widening of the wealth gap between the rich and the poor 2. People waking up to the fact that the West and the East are equally bad with a constant stream of bad leaders who make bad decisions for their own riches and for the huge hypocrisy as well as the apparent propaganda to which we are all (West and East) are subjected by our own governments and mainstream media outlets 3. Internet and social media making 1. and 2. extremely visible to everyone in every corner of the world As a result the world is becoming a lot more cynic on a much wider scale than ever before, people are becoming increasingly more selfish because they see that this is how the world operates as a whole without any shame and people are therefore increasingly more inclined to give their vote to people who "offer" radically different views to the status quo.

BLKNSLVR 4y ago
Where politicians lead, society will follow. If politicians are overtly selfish, it should be no surprise that society begins to shift in that same direction. If it's ok for them, gimme some of that sugar too! Having said that, maybe it's only the loud minority amplified by a desperate mainstream media making it appear that way?
oblio 4y ago
> People waking up to the fact that the West and the East are equally bad You probably want to define what "East" is in this context. If East is Russia + China, it's trivially easy to prove that the West is better for its own citizens. 1. Economic levels in the West. 2. Respect for citizens' lives in the West. I'm from a country that used to be in the Eastern Bloc, and let me tell you, nobody respects its citizens' lives like the collective West. Yes, the West is still horrible for many groups for human dignity, and yes, they don't always respect their citizens' lives, but boy, are they an improvement over most of the rest of the world. And we have the numbers, check out military casualties for each side in various wars. The West has by far fewer military casualties than China or Russia have. And that mentality permeates everywhere. Because if you don't care if your troops die in a war, you won't care if they die in a mine or an office building. Before you reply, keep in mind I'm talking about statistics.
- FooBarWidget 4y ago
  I'm Chinese. I'm not commenting on Russia but please keep China out of "trivially easy to prove that the West is better for its own citizens". Chinese citizen have been found to be far more satisfied with their government and their future prospects than for example the US. This "propaganda"-sounding fact is even something found by western institutions such as Harvard, York University and Democracy Perception Index! Even here in the Netherlands, Chinese diaspora that I know and that have come here in the past 10-15 years are very positive about China. In China, police don't wear guns, and women can safely walk on the streets during the night — something which you can't say about many western countries. Of course China still has many of its own problems. But the cartoonish notion that it's some sort of totalitarian police state dictatorship where everybody wants to flee from is propaganda. China and the west both have their own problems and their own strong points.
  - dustedcodes 4y ago
    Exactly. I am a White European male who grew up in Europe, but I was lucky to travel to many countries across the world and I spent many months in China because I found it very interesting to experience this country myself and make my own opinion and I couldn't agree with you more. Honestly, of course China has many problems, and in many ways China will always have very unique problems which no other country will ever have - which comes as a result of having to find solutions to the world's largest population which nobody else has to deal with - but overall I found Chinese people to have an extraordinary nice life. I visited big multi million cities, way off the tourist route and also small villages and people seemed to live very happy and community driven harmonious lives. I entered the country with a lot of bias and left completely shocked. It definitely opened my eyes and has made me look at many things from a very different perspective today. EDIT: Again, I'm not ignorant to the problems in China, but I don't need to list the because our main stream media makes sure that every person in the West knows about every little problem China has. So instead I focus on highlighting some of the many positives which I've seen and experienced as well, because for some reason the people in the West are (deliberately) not being told about those.
    - 4y ago

BLKNSLVR 4y ago

Where politicians lead, society will follow. If politicians are overtly selfish, it should be no surprise that society begins to shift in that same direction. If it's ok for them, gimme some of that sugar too! Having said that, maybe it's only the loud minority amplified by a desperate mainstream media making it appear that way?

oblio 4y ago

> People waking up to the fact that the West and the East are equally bad You probably want to define what "East" is in this context. If East is Russia + China, it's trivially easy to prove that the West is better for its own citizens. 1. Economic levels in the West. 2. Respect for citizens' lives in the West. I'm from a country that used to be in the Eastern Bloc, and let me tell you, nobody respects its citizens' lives like the collective West. Yes, the West is still horrible for many groups for human dignity, and yes, they don't always respect their citizens' lives, but boy, are they an improvement over most of the rest of the world. And we have the numbers, check out military casualties for each side in various wars. The West has by far fewer military casualties than China or Russia have. And that mentality permeates everywhere. Because if you don't care if your troops die in a war, you won't care if they die in a mine or an office building. Before you reply, keep in mind I'm talking about statistics.

FooBarWidget 4y ago
I'm Chinese. I'm not commenting on Russia but please keep China out of "trivially easy to prove that the West is better for its own citizens". Chinese citizen have been found to be far more satisfied with their government and their future prospects than for example the US. This "propaganda"-sounding fact is even something found by western institutions such as Harvard, York University and Democracy Perception Index! Even here in the Netherlands, Chinese diaspora that I know and that have come here in the past 10-15 years are very positive about China. In China, police don't wear guns, and women can safely walk on the streets during the night — something which you can't say about many western countries. Of course China still has many of its own problems. But the cartoonish notion that it's some sort of totalitarian police state dictatorship where everybody wants to flee from is propaganda. China and the west both have their own problems and their own strong points.
- dustedcodes 4y ago
  Exactly. I am a White European male who grew up in Europe, but I was lucky to travel to many countries across the world and I spent many months in China because I found it very interesting to experience this country myself and make my own opinion and I couldn't agree with you more. Honestly, of course China has many problems, and in many ways China will always have very unique problems which no other country will ever have - which comes as a result of having to find solutions to the world's largest population which nobody else has to deal with - but overall I found Chinese people to have an extraordinary nice life. I visited big multi million cities, way off the tourist route and also small villages and people seemed to live very happy and community driven harmonious lives. I entered the country with a lot of bias and left completely shocked. It definitely opened my eyes and has made me look at many things from a very different perspective today. EDIT: Again, I'm not ignorant to the problems in China, but I don't need to list the because our main stream media makes sure that every person in the West knows about every little problem China has. So instead I focus on highlighting some of the many positives which I've seen and experienced as well, because for some reason the people in the West are (deliberately) not being told about those.
  - 4y ago