Remix.run Logo
api 3 days ago

My take for a while has been that authoritarian ideas (both hard right and hard left) dominate on social media because of the short form short attention span format. Authoritarianism tends to run on simple slogans, grievances, and identity politics. That stuff is very well suited to 140 characters, memes, and short videos.

Liberal ideas require more explaining and historical context, and they don’t play well when everyone has been triggered and trolled into limbic system mode by rage bait.

Liberal politics speaks to the neocortex. Authoritarianism speaks to the brain stem.

bamboozled 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

My take for a while has been that authoritarian ideas

That's odd because I don't see a lot of that. Care to elaborate?

eimrine 3 days ago | parent [-]

In what country do you need to be shown some of that?

bamboozled 2 days ago | parent [-]

Australia

nxor 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Liberals can also be authoritarian. See reddit, where ideas that don't conform are typically downvoted out. Here too.

api 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

I’m using the word liberal to mean things like liberty, individual rights, democracy, and the rule of law. That’s why I also mentioned hard left authoritarianism.

Also there’s a world of difference between people registering dislike on an online forum and the use of state power. It seems like a lot of people these days draw no distinction between removal from a private space or even people just showing disapproval and actual state force.

docmars 3 days ago | parent [-]

This doesn't surprise me much; social networks have worked in tandem with governments, allowing them to call the shots to remove any content that opposed their political agendas, narratives, and opinions, to the extent that facts were flat-out censored to paint certain political opponents in a bad light, or worse, create potential legal issues.

It created a world where: when disapproval inside an echo-chamber fails to a critical mass of people telling the truth, just pretend the content doesn't exist and then gaslight people using official media outlets, including Congress and the White House.

So it gave people the impression there's no difference between the two. Not only were disapproval and state force in agreement, they colluded.

tired-turtle 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

While your point (about the potential for liberal authoritarianism) is true, reddit is an example of partisan, not authoritarian, behavior.

strbean 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> authoritarian

>downvoted out

Erm...

iamtedd 3 days ago | parent [-]

Russia has elections, where people overwhelmingly vote for Putin..

positr0n 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Pretty sure OP means liberal in the sense of "classical liberalism". Ideas like free market, rule of law, private property, etc.

mason_mpls 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

You’re confusing democracy with tyranny.

exoverito 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

You're assuming mutual exclusion. Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what's for dinner.

mason_mpls 2 days ago | parent [-]

we’re people, not fairytale beasts

computerthings 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

[dead]