[FRIAM] How democracies die

[glen]

I would guess the majority of those who voted for Harris also don't read. Or, maybe it's better to say they don't read the same way we used to read: https://www.the-hinternet.com/p/the-future-of-reading

I'll admit that I rarely read books anymore. I think I've read 2 this year. The overwhelming majority of my reading is journal, magazine, and news articles. And I spend a LOT of time listening to podcasts and video essays. Granted, my only social media is Mastodon. Though I do try to post to Instagram sporadically. I just have no idea why serious people still use eX-Twitter. I mean, WTF?

All this stuff plays an important role in "how democracies die". And my guess is we'll learn less from the deep thinking book writers or essayists and more from attempts at network analysis across media like TikTok, Telegram, Signal, Discord, & SimpleX. There was this (good) article on Graeber in the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/nov/07/david-graeber-optimistic-anarchist-rebecca-solnit. And despite it tweaking my old philia, it just reads so empty to me now. A stroll through .5TB of leaked chat logs is much more exciting these days (https://ddosecrets.com/article/paramilitary-election-interference).

On 11/7/24 02:16, Sarbajit Roy wrote:
> "> ..,The people who voted for him probably do not read Paxton, Arendt or Levitsky and Ziblat ..."
> The people who voted for him don't read...
> 
> We have a similar problem in India, the great semi-literate masses have been handed cheap smartp[hiones with cheap data plans so they are connected 24x7 to the Matrix.
> 
> On Wed, Nov 6, 2024 at 2:04 PM Jochen Fromm <jofr at cas-group.net <mailto:jofr at cas-group.net>> wrote:
> 
>     I woke up today and saw the horrific news on TV that Trump has won again. It is incredibly bad on many levels. It is bad for the environment. The world will not be able to stop global warming without the U.S. It is bad for Ukraine as well. To me it feels like the end of civilization and democracy. The people who voted for him probably do not read Paxton, Arendt or Levitsky and Ziblatt. Or do not care.
>     https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/562246/how-democracies-die-by-steven-levitsky-and-daniel-ziblatt/ <https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/562246/how-democracies-die-by-steven-levitsky-and-daniel-ziblatt/>
> 
>     I was wondering how this is possible. If we define populism as an ideology that presents "the people" as a morally good force and contrasts them against "the elite", who are portrayed as corrupt and self-serving then this could be a reason why Trump is so successful. He is good at populism because he is corrupt and self-serving himself, and uses projection to accuse others.
> 
>     https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/308163/what-is-populism-by-muller-jan-werner/9780141987378 <https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/308163/what-is-populism-by-muller-jan-werner/9780141987378>
> 
> 
>     What do you think? Why have people voted for him although they know what kind of person he his? Are we doomed now?
> 


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