Propaganda, censorship, and surveillance are all attributes of monopoly

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.

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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.

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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.

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