Another interesting analysis. It is true that anger is a powerful way of drawing attention, especially that of those with a limited attention span. The far-right employs 'shouty' people for this very reason; Trump and Farage being the perfect examples. Sound bites tinged with anger, such as "Stop The Boats" will fire up the juices of the less intelligent whereas, "Be Nice To Everybody" would be dismissed as woke nonsense. How the left fights back is a tricky one because their rationale requires some thought and reason, as well as an informed approach to social politics. It also involves caring about people beyond yourself and your cronies, seeing a bigger picture, looking to the future - all things that are not in the far-right play book. On top of the noise of the far-right, we also get the disinformation and downright lies, especially via social media, which is generally owned and controlled by - the far-right, of course. At this point, I would love to be able to provide a wise solution, but I am unable to do so. As a retired teacher, all I can say is that, among the many challenges in the education of young people, critical thinking should be encouraged at every opportunity; take nothing at face value, especially if it comes in the form of a news headline or a three word slogan.
As a retired teacher you'll remember Thatchers downgrade of education in roughly 1984, I won't go into the details as you'll know them, especially if you were in English language or science, but what you might not know is the same was likely done in other EU countries at around the same time. I'm in Sweden where it happened in 84 perhaps others here know whether this applies elsewhere in Europe. I believe we're now seeing the results of these downgrades manifesting as lack of critical thinking & analysis especially where information political & otherwise is concerned.
The term 'hyperpolitics' reminds me of the term 'hypernormalisation'. A term coined by the Soviet era professor of anthropology, Alexei Yurchak, who was born in Leningrad and later went on to teach at the University of California, Berkeley. He introduced the word in his book "Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More: The Last Soviet Generation" (2006), which describes paradoxes of Soviet life during the 1970s and 1980s. In it he says everyone in the Soviet Union knew the Communist system was failing, but no one could imagine any alternative to the status quo, and politicians and citizens alike were resigned to maintaining the pretence of a functioning society. Over time, the mass delusion became a self-fulfilling prophecy, with everyone accepting it as the new norm rather than pretend, an effect Yurchak termed hypernormalisation. Adam Curtis, British documentary filmmaker, wrote and directed a film of the same name in 2016 (HyperNormalisation). In his film, he argues that in the West, the global economic crises of the 1970s, led governments, financiers and technological utopians to give up on trying to shape the complex "real world" and instead establish a simpler "fake world" for the benefit of multi-national corporations that is kept stable by neoliberal governments. Hypernormalisation and its offspring hyperpolitics have since gained further resonance and strength in the social media era of the 21st Century.
Since the late 1970s/early 1980s mass party politics, trade unions, civic associations and churches/religious life have been eroded by the growing strength of neo-liberalism and the effects of hypernormalisation. Society has turned inwards, as people have focused more on self, "what's in it for me", rather than the common good when faced with the complexities of the real world. The brave, hope-filled, new world of the post Second World War years has been lost in the greed and lies of neo-liberalism as Western old colonial powers and the US have tried to manipulate the world for the benefit of large corporations and those of extreme wealth. Large corporations have been joined by the tech-multibillionaires as they have rode the whirlwind of hypernormalisation and turbo-charged the demise of mass party politics, civil society and trade unions as people have retreated online to air their grievances and shout at each other instead of encountering each other in true dialogue/discussion.
For me the only solution is to start from the bottom up. Grass root organisations such as Open Britain, politicians born in or having lived in communities for many years which they represent, thus having the interests of those communities close to their heart instead of those of lobbyists or wealthy donors, and young people educated in the traps and misinformation/disinformation flooding social media. Political party funding should come from membership fees and the public purse for election campaigns. There should be no private money in politics and politicians shouldn't have second jobs. If they are allowed to work it should only be for short periods in the major parliamentary recesses. A better world is possible but it ain't no walk in the park.
Excellent analysis. It is possible to have some reasonable discussions on the internet, and to read some very thoughtful writing. However, I am unsure how we can encourage the spread of this and promote a return to more meaningful politics from the grassroots upwards.
I think taking money out of politics would be a good start. I think we also need to improve the calibre of our politicians. However, I am afraid that these are a little bit like hoping for World Peace.
Taking money out of politics would be a great start but the real problem is the dissemination of tailor made dis & misinformation via social media that political parties have so happily embraced
I say tailor made because it's reached the point where the dis/misinformation can be craftily crafted, soon or perhaps even already, on the fly, to tweak your specific mindset. Thank's to social media data scrapes Ai & by extension that subset of billionaires now know more about what makes you tick than you do & it's far from just social media they've scraped. Just look at what Palantir now has access to curtesy of our trailing edge politicians.
I think there are some answers in Doctorow's "Enshittification"; while a chunk of the book is very US-centric, the fixes suggested in the latter parts seem broadly applicable.
We have to recognise that the old political system has been trumped by a curated digital multiverse. The honest print newspapers with a wide readership, a range of self-organised community organisations and unions where skills of debate and control were practiced, the nation state with significant resources, mostly local agriculture and factories. All is overcome by globalised overproduction and digital channels that erode local culture and cohesion. But political and democratic efficacy can be recovered if political parties are given public resources that enable them to reach and convince people using the techniques routinely deployed by commerce. I don't see any excuse for labour allowing foreign oligarchs and fossil fuel autocrats to lie and buy our votes.
Those heady days of internet past when changing the world for the better with constructive dialog & "free"(we should have known better) global communication seemed possible! Then it got hijacked & wrecked by "survivalist" billionaires who knew their days were numbered if they didn't act fast...
But don't worry now we have Ai, "freely" given to us by those same billionaires, to save the day! Talk about Déjà vu! :'-(
Read Nick Hanauer's 2014 essay "The Pitchforks Are Coming...For Us Plutocrats" if you have any doubt's the .com billionaires were oblivious to the changes barreling down on them. At least Hanauer had enough imagination to go for the positive way of handling developments unlike those addled crazies who saw mind hacking humanity with social media as the solution...
Another interesting analysis. It is true that anger is a powerful way of drawing attention, especially that of those with a limited attention span. The far-right employs 'shouty' people for this very reason; Trump and Farage being the perfect examples. Sound bites tinged with anger, such as "Stop The Boats" will fire up the juices of the less intelligent whereas, "Be Nice To Everybody" would be dismissed as woke nonsense. How the left fights back is a tricky one because their rationale requires some thought and reason, as well as an informed approach to social politics. It also involves caring about people beyond yourself and your cronies, seeing a bigger picture, looking to the future - all things that are not in the far-right play book. On top of the noise of the far-right, we also get the disinformation and downright lies, especially via social media, which is generally owned and controlled by - the far-right, of course. At this point, I would love to be able to provide a wise solution, but I am unable to do so. As a retired teacher, all I can say is that, among the many challenges in the education of young people, critical thinking should be encouraged at every opportunity; take nothing at face value, especially if it comes in the form of a news headline or a three word slogan.
As a retired teacher you'll remember Thatchers downgrade of education in roughly 1984, I won't go into the details as you'll know them, especially if you were in English language or science, but what you might not know is the same was likely done in other EU countries at around the same time. I'm in Sweden where it happened in 84 perhaps others here know whether this applies elsewhere in Europe. I believe we're now seeing the results of these downgrades manifesting as lack of critical thinking & analysis especially where information political & otherwise is concerned.
The term 'hyperpolitics' reminds me of the term 'hypernormalisation'. A term coined by the Soviet era professor of anthropology, Alexei Yurchak, who was born in Leningrad and later went on to teach at the University of California, Berkeley. He introduced the word in his book "Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More: The Last Soviet Generation" (2006), which describes paradoxes of Soviet life during the 1970s and 1980s. In it he says everyone in the Soviet Union knew the Communist system was failing, but no one could imagine any alternative to the status quo, and politicians and citizens alike were resigned to maintaining the pretence of a functioning society. Over time, the mass delusion became a self-fulfilling prophecy, with everyone accepting it as the new norm rather than pretend, an effect Yurchak termed hypernormalisation. Adam Curtis, British documentary filmmaker, wrote and directed a film of the same name in 2016 (HyperNormalisation). In his film, he argues that in the West, the global economic crises of the 1970s, led governments, financiers and technological utopians to give up on trying to shape the complex "real world" and instead establish a simpler "fake world" for the benefit of multi-national corporations that is kept stable by neoliberal governments. Hypernormalisation and its offspring hyperpolitics have since gained further resonance and strength in the social media era of the 21st Century.
Since the late 1970s/early 1980s mass party politics, trade unions, civic associations and churches/religious life have been eroded by the growing strength of neo-liberalism and the effects of hypernormalisation. Society has turned inwards, as people have focused more on self, "what's in it for me", rather than the common good when faced with the complexities of the real world. The brave, hope-filled, new world of the post Second World War years has been lost in the greed and lies of neo-liberalism as Western old colonial powers and the US have tried to manipulate the world for the benefit of large corporations and those of extreme wealth. Large corporations have been joined by the tech-multibillionaires as they have rode the whirlwind of hypernormalisation and turbo-charged the demise of mass party politics, civil society and trade unions as people have retreated online to air their grievances and shout at each other instead of encountering each other in true dialogue/discussion.
For me the only solution is to start from the bottom up. Grass root organisations such as Open Britain, politicians born in or having lived in communities for many years which they represent, thus having the interests of those communities close to their heart instead of those of lobbyists or wealthy donors, and young people educated in the traps and misinformation/disinformation flooding social media. Political party funding should come from membership fees and the public purse for election campaigns. There should be no private money in politics and politicians shouldn't have second jobs. If they are allowed to work it should only be for short periods in the major parliamentary recesses. A better world is possible but it ain't no walk in the park.
Wise and thoughtful words…
Excellent analysis. It is possible to have some reasonable discussions on the internet, and to read some very thoughtful writing. However, I am unsure how we can encourage the spread of this and promote a return to more meaningful politics from the grassroots upwards.
I think taking money out of politics would be a good start. I think we also need to improve the calibre of our politicians. However, I am afraid that these are a little bit like hoping for World Peace.
Taking money out of politics would be a great start but the real problem is the dissemination of tailor made dis & misinformation via social media that political parties have so happily embraced
I say tailor made because it's reached the point where the dis/misinformation can be craftily crafted, soon or perhaps even already, on the fly, to tweak your specific mindset. Thank's to social media data scrapes Ai & by extension that subset of billionaires now know more about what makes you tick than you do & it's far from just social media they've scraped. Just look at what Palantir now has access to curtesy of our trailing edge politicians.
I think there are some answers in Doctorow's "Enshittification"; while a chunk of the book is very US-centric, the fixes suggested in the latter parts seem broadly applicable.
We have to recognise that the old political system has been trumped by a curated digital multiverse. The honest print newspapers with a wide readership, a range of self-organised community organisations and unions where skills of debate and control were practiced, the nation state with significant resources, mostly local agriculture and factories. All is overcome by globalised overproduction and digital channels that erode local culture and cohesion. But political and democratic efficacy can be recovered if political parties are given public resources that enable them to reach and convince people using the techniques routinely deployed by commerce. I don't see any excuse for labour allowing foreign oligarchs and fossil fuel autocrats to lie and buy our votes.
A lot of good analysis/history, but not helped by:
- appearance of intellectual snobbery
- failure to recognise real costs of doing politics that leads to dependence on donors/corporate sponsors/lobbies; state funding also has drawbacks
As the saying goes, if it's free, there's a reason and it's usually that the customer is the product being bought
Those heady days of internet past when changing the world for the better with constructive dialog & "free"(we should have known better) global communication seemed possible! Then it got hijacked & wrecked by "survivalist" billionaires who knew their days were numbered if they didn't act fast...
But don't worry now we have Ai, "freely" given to us by those same billionaires, to save the day! Talk about Déjà vu! :'-(
Read Nick Hanauer's 2014 essay "The Pitchforks Are Coming...For Us Plutocrats" if you have any doubt's the .com billionaires were oblivious to the changes barreling down on them. At least Hanauer had enough imagination to go for the positive way of handling developments unlike those addled crazies who saw mind hacking humanity with social media as the solution...