3 ms·

The Enshittification of Politics or the War on Normal People

2 points by moose_man 3y ago

This use to be more apparent in right wing politics (think Tea Party 2010s) where the extreme wing of the political parties basically orchestrated a hostile takeover and controlled direction and agenda but lately it’s creeping into Democrats as well. I’ll give a concrete example, in NY criminal justice reform is a worthy goal and something to work on but we’ve ended up in place where a convicted (violent) felon on parole strangled his girlfriends son (because kid was being bullied at school), the guy admitted that he strangled the kid. Despite this, at his court hearing, the judge released the guy without bail. I get the need to right previous wrongs, but who wants to be living in a world where a person with a violent criminal past can strangle a kid to death, admit this and be released by the court without bail? I don’t think that constituency exists, or if it does it is vanishingly small. The GOP version of this is stuff like stand your ground laws, or striking down concealed carry permit laws (everybody should be able to shoot whenever they want to). It feels like there is a war on normal people. No normal person wants to live in a world where everyone can be packing and the circumstances which they can be prosecuted for shooting you are limited. Likewise no one wants to live in a world where a person can murder a child and be released without bail same day. At what point does the system totally collapse?

jfengel 3y ago
I think you're conflating the ordinary process of trying to make the right decisions in a complex world, with the deliberate disinformation of a political propaganda campaign. The story here was "broken" by the New York Post, a tabloid newspaper with a deliberate propaganda role. Viewed more objectively, it's not nearly as interesting. A parolee has rights, including the right to be assumed innocent until proven guilty. Bail has been used to deny people that right. The presumption of innocence is going to lead to criminals committing more crime. We've decided as a society that it's better to live with that than to let the court system be used to oppress people. Especially poor people, the ones least able to make bail. One crime is not a "collapse". That's precisely what the New York Post and its ideological ilk want you to believe. The fact is that crime has been going down for decades, and that the prison system has been used in systematic ways to hurt people. The New York Post is surely gleeful that the murderer in this case is black -- they don't even try to hide their racism. That doesn't mean that the right decision was made in this case. It's up to the judge's discretion. You'd need to be there to know what factors went into the judge's decision. It may have been poorly considered. It also may have been simply that the judge felt that the defendant would return for a hearing -- that's what bail is for. You will not live in a system with no crime. It will not happen. That's not "enshittification". That's the world. There are various ways to reduce crime, and legitimate disagreements about them. Unfortunately, I don't believe it's possible to conduct legitimate disagreements right now. I'm afraid there's no non-partisan way to say this: I believe that the American right wing is not being a good partner. I believe that they've chosen to allow disinformation to become a major part of their public presentation, making discussion impossible. On issue after issue, they're Just Plain Wrong, simply incorrect on matters of basic fact. In that environment there's no way to discuss sincere differences of values or opinions. So I believe that there is a "war on normal people", but it's entirely one sided. The other side still makes mistakes. But also remember that bad things would happen in a world even with no mistakes. Do not lose sight of the context of this issue. It does not present a threat to you; it is not the "war" you're worried about.

2 points by moose_man 3y ago

jfengel 3y ago

I think you're conflating the ordinary process of trying to make the right decisions in a complex world, with the deliberate disinformation of a political propaganda campaign. The story here was "broken" by the New York Post, a tabloid newspaper with a deliberate propaganda role. Viewed more objectively, it's not nearly as interesting. A parolee has rights, including the right to be assumed innocent until proven guilty. Bail has been used to deny people that right. The presumption of innocence is going to lead to criminals committing more crime. We've decided as a society that it's better to live with that than to let the court system be used to oppress people. Especially poor people, the ones least able to make bail. One crime is not a "collapse". That's precisely what the New York Post and its ideological ilk want you to believe. The fact is that crime has been going down for decades, and that the prison system has been used in systematic ways to hurt people. The New York Post is surely gleeful that the murderer in this case is black -- they don't even try to hide their racism. That doesn't mean that the right decision was made in this case. It's up to the judge's discretion. You'd need to be there to know what factors went into the judge's decision. It may have been poorly considered. It also may have been simply that the judge felt that the defendant would return for a hearing -- that's what bail is for. You will not live in a system with no crime. It will not happen. That's not "enshittification". That's the world. There are various ways to reduce crime, and legitimate disagreements about them. Unfortunately, I don't believe it's possible to conduct legitimate disagreements right now. I'm afraid there's no non-partisan way to say this: I believe that the American right wing is not being a good partner. I believe that they've chosen to allow disinformation to become a major part of their public presentation, making discussion impossible. On issue after issue, they're Just Plain Wrong, simply incorrect on matters of basic fact. In that environment there's no way to discuss sincere differences of values or opinions. So I believe that there is a "war on normal people", but it's entirely one sided. The other side still makes mistakes. But also remember that bad things would happen in a world even with no mistakes. Do not lose sight of the context of this issue. It does not present a threat to you; it is not the "war" you're worried about.