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I assume by 'strong personality' you mean populist. I think it's a big mistake to think populism can only be fought with populism, otherwise all democracies wou

by rozab 2y ago

I assume by 'strong personality' you mean populist. I think it's a big mistake to think populism can only be fought with populism, otherwise all democracies would have fallen to it long ago. I do think if we're pointing fingers, most of the problems came from before the Harris campaign kicked off.

goethes_kind 2y ago
Populism is just democracy taking the reigns back from the entrenched political establishment. There is nothing democratic about a social class of bureaucrats gatekeeping all political offices. If anything, it seems to me that populism is necessary to overcome the local minimum that the political landscape settles in from time to time.
- chimprich 2y ago
  It's pretty hard to define what populism is; it's kind of a "know it when I see it" kind of definition for most commentators. My best attempt at a definition would be a platform that denies known truths in favour of superficially popular positions. For example, claiming that tariffs don't increase prices, or that legal convictions are lies, or even that solid, established scientific evidence (like vaccines are safe and hugely effective or climate change is real) are untrue.
  - gg82 2y ago
    Nah, that is not what it means. Populism is a political approach that seeks to represent the interests and voice of "ordinary people" against what is perceived as an elite or establishment. Populist movements often emphasize a direct connection between the leader and the people, bypassing traditional political institutions or parties, and claim to speak for the "common people" against corrupt or out-of-touch elites. Populism can appear across the political spectrum, taking different forms depending on the issues and ideologies within a given society. This is likely to cause winners and losers to come out of the situation... and probably after time, the leaders end up becoming elites who become out of touch with the "common people" and the process is likely to repeat. I think it is closer to Democracy than whatever the democrats seem to say - which they seem to define as: "whatever gives them the power to do what they want"
    - vacuity 2y ago
      In the ideal, populism can be seen as a good example of democracy. In practice, voters just go off of feelings and "he said, she said", at which point it's not about the benefit of the people so much as whichever elites manage to wrest the conch this time. For the most part, the people themselves aren't well educated and able to understand what is actually to their benefit or not, even if they are college educated. Adding to that, people are bad at long-term thinking and focusing on multiple issues. In practice, the outcome is the same.
  - aziaziazi 2y ago
    Good definition! Here’s the Cambridge one: “political ideas and activities that are intended to get the support of ordinary people by giving them what they want”. Giving someone all they want is not seen as a good thing… unless you are the recipient, in that case internal bias comes to play.
  - dogleash 2y ago
    That is how populism has been branded as bad, to you. By your definition the most populist parties are the republicans and democrats ("denies known truths in favour of superficially popular positions").
    - vacuity 2y ago
      > the most populist parties are the republicans and democrats This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone...
zelphirkalt 2y ago
From the outside this is what I think too. Biden tried too desperately to be the next candidate again and Harris' campaign could have started 1 or 2 months earlier than it did. If Trump actually wins, the world might be in for a lot of trouble very soon. Quite worrying. Aside from totalitarian regimes, wherever you look around the world people were hoping the crazy dude would not win, wondering how anyone could be so blind not to see what kind of person he is, how uneducated, silly, and what a loser in the general sense.
- ttyprintk 2y ago
  A second administration will look quite different. If he remembers his campaign ideas, the economics will look much closer to Brexit than the chaos of his first term.
  - chpatrick 2y ago
    ...Brexit not being chaos?
    - ttyprintk 2y ago
      Yeah, the application of new tariffs will look like the disorderly negotiations of Brexit rather than magic marker hurricane prediction.
    - strix_varius 2y ago
      "impotent gridlock" would be more accurate than "chaos" to describe Trump's first term.
- CapricornNoble 2y ago
  > Aside from totalitarian regimes, wherever you look around the world people were hoping the crazy dude would not win Can you list some of the places where you've looked "around the world"? The locals I know out here in Asia (and a few in Southern Africa) aren't Trump haters.
  - 2y ago
ks2048 2y ago
It's funny how "populism" has a shifting definition (as I see it). Your comment implies populism is the opposite of democracy. While it's literal meaning seems to be exactly democratic (doing what the populous wants).
- p3rls 2y ago
  Dear OP, if you don't understand why people are making fun of you, imagine the trump guy that mostly exists in your own heads saying "We must avoid falling into tyranny by leaning into the fuhrerprinciple!" And now we know why Confucius said the first step is the rectification of names.
- amelius 2y ago
  It's not "doing what the people want", but it's "telling them what they want to hear".
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- Fnoord 2y ago
  ..but it isn't doing what the populous wants. It is making it appear to do what they want based on populistic (yet unrealistic) resentments.

by rozab 2y ago

goethes_kind 2y ago

Populism is just democracy taking the reigns back from the entrenched political establishment. There is nothing democratic about a social class of bureaucrats gatekeeping all political offices. If anything, it seems to me that populism is necessary to overcome the local minimum that the political landscape settles in from time to time.

chimprich 2y ago
It's pretty hard to define what populism is; it's kind of a "know it when I see it" kind of definition for most commentators. My best attempt at a definition would be a platform that denies known truths in favour of superficially popular positions. For example, claiming that tariffs don't increase prices, or that legal convictions are lies, or even that solid, established scientific evidence (like vaccines are safe and hugely effective or climate change is real) are untrue.
- gg82 2y ago
  Nah, that is not what it means. Populism is a political approach that seeks to represent the interests and voice of "ordinary people" against what is perceived as an elite or establishment. Populist movements often emphasize a direct connection between the leader and the people, bypassing traditional political institutions or parties, and claim to speak for the "common people" against corrupt or out-of-touch elites. Populism can appear across the political spectrum, taking different forms depending on the issues and ideologies within a given society. This is likely to cause winners and losers to come out of the situation... and probably after time, the leaders end up becoming elites who become out of touch with the "common people" and the process is likely to repeat. I think it is closer to Democracy than whatever the democrats seem to say - which they seem to define as: "whatever gives them the power to do what they want"
  - vacuity 2y ago
    In the ideal, populism can be seen as a good example of democracy. In practice, voters just go off of feelings and "he said, she said", at which point it's not about the benefit of the people so much as whichever elites manage to wrest the conch this time. For the most part, the people themselves aren't well educated and able to understand what is actually to their benefit or not, even if they are college educated. Adding to that, people are bad at long-term thinking and focusing on multiple issues. In practice, the outcome is the same.
- aziaziazi 2y ago
  Good definition! Here’s the Cambridge one: “political ideas and activities that are intended to get the support of ordinary people by giving them what they want”. Giving someone all they want is not seen as a good thing… unless you are the recipient, in that case internal bias comes to play.
- dogleash 2y ago
  That is how populism has been branded as bad, to you. By your definition the most populist parties are the republicans and democrats ("denies known truths in favour of superficially popular positions").
  - vacuity 2y ago
    > the most populist parties are the republicans and democrats This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone...

zelphirkalt 2y ago

From the outside this is what I think too. Biden tried too desperately to be the next candidate again and Harris' campaign could have started 1 or 2 months earlier than it did. If Trump actually wins, the world might be in for a lot of trouble very soon. Quite worrying. Aside from totalitarian regimes, wherever you look around the world people were hoping the crazy dude would not win, wondering how anyone could be so blind not to see what kind of person he is, how uneducated, silly, and what a loser in the general sense.

ttyprintk 2y ago
A second administration will look quite different. If he remembers his campaign ideas, the economics will look much closer to Brexit than the chaos of his first term.
- chpatrick 2y ago
  ...Brexit not being chaos?
  - ttyprintk 2y ago
    Yeah, the application of new tariffs will look like the disorderly negotiations of Brexit rather than magic marker hurricane prediction.
  - strix_varius 2y ago
    "impotent gridlock" would be more accurate than "chaos" to describe Trump's first term.
CapricornNoble 2y ago
> Aside from totalitarian regimes, wherever you look around the world people were hoping the crazy dude would not win Can you list some of the places where you've looked "around the world"? The locals I know out here in Asia (and a few in Southern Africa) aren't Trump haters.
- 2y ago

ks2048 2y ago

It's funny how "populism" has a shifting definition (as I see it). Your comment implies populism is the opposite of democracy. While it's literal meaning seems to be exactly democratic (doing what the populous wants).

p3rls 2y ago
Dear OP, if you don't understand why people are making fun of you, imagine the trump guy that mostly exists in your own heads saying "We must avoid falling into tyranny by leaning into the fuhrerprinciple!" And now we know why Confucius said the first step is the rectification of names.
amelius 2y ago
It's not "doing what the people want", but it's "telling them what they want to hear".
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
Fnoord 2y ago
..but it isn't doing what the populous wants. It is making it appear to do what they want based on populistic (yet unrealistic) resentments.