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Re:Propaganda, censorship, and surveillance are all attribut... by keiferski on Wednesday October 14, 2020 @07:36AM (#24775421)
The comparisons to the Civil War make no sense and just illustrate my point that historical education is deeply lacking. As someone else already pointed out, the issues today are still nothing compared to the 60s.

Current domestic issues have nothing to do with the Civil War. There is no state-like military complex ready to secede. There is no geographic division that lends itself to secession. Etc. etc. The only reason this is invoked is because it's the only meme that most people are aware of, not because it's even remotely accurate. Even something like the 90s Balkan Wars is so far from the contemporary American situation, it's absurd to compare it.

The only thing that's truly new is the media's profit motive for creating a perception of chaos.

Of course, the fact that things have worked out in the past doesn't mean they will always work out in the future. But people who compare contemporary America to the Fall of the Roman Empire or the American Civil War really don't know much about either.

Re:Propaganda, censorship, and surveillance are all attribut... by kazagistar on Wednesday October 14, 2020 @09:29AM (#24776279)
No, you are right, the situation is much more comparable to Weimar Germany, which is far far worse.
Re:Propaganda, censorship, and surveillance are all attribut... by keiferski on Wednesday October 14, 2020 @09:47AM (#24776461)
While there are parallels to Weimar Germany, again I don't think this is actually a useful comparison and it's mostly used as a fascist boogeyman. Major factors in Weimar that don't exist in America/the West today:

- Immediately after a massively destructive war that affected all levels of society

- Populace of young men with PTSD and military experience

- Little/no social safety nets

- No history of democracy - remember that prior to Weimar, Germany was governed by Prussia and basically had no democratic traditions

IMO the real actual historical comparison to use in 2020 is the Printing Press and Protestant Reformation; i.e. established power structure (the Catholic Church) dealing with new information-propagation technologies and factions. I'd bet that 2050 is going to look a lot like 1550.

Re:Propaganda, censorship, and surveillance are all attribut... by kazagistar on Wednesday October 14, 2020 @10:44AM (#24777054)
You can name factors, but that doesn't mean those factors are the most critical ones, just the ones that support your narrative.
Re:Propaganda, censorship, and surveillance are all attribut... by keiferski on Wednesday October 14, 2020 @11:37AM (#24777796)
I mean, I don’t really have a narrative here. I just find the comparison to Weimar unconvincing. Modern culture, in its inability to generate new futures (see Baudrillard, Deleuze, etc.) constantly looks backwards. The popular trend now seems to be reframing the 2020s as a 1920s redux, but again, I think this is mostly lazy ignorance.