Sarbajit 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.
Thank you for this pithy bit of parallax, it cuts at least two ways.
I believe that we 'elites' make the mistake of wanting the
unwashed/semi-literate/??? masses to share our perspectives (whether we
be progressive/conservative, liberal/authoritative) and support our
vision for *their* future. We then get upset when *they* listen to the
*other* elites rather than us.
I was completely convinced that Kamala & Co had made such a good
argument for *our* vision of a future for humanity (American Exceptional
Centric of course) that it would *overwhelmingly* (at least by the
margin Trump took over Harris but vice-versa) persuade the folks whose
future we are hoping to define. As it turns out, the *other* camp of
elites managed to find the right chords to strike, notes to hit to
resonate with 74M voters?
I'm probably misusing "elite" here (or at least idiosyncratically) to
reference those with agency in society above some arbitrary threshold.
Education, Social Status, Professional/Trade Status, Ability, Insight,
all combine to support this Agency-in-Context, and even more relevant
perhaps is the *perception* of Agency? When those who wield
economic/political/practical power (the wealthy, the successful
politician or rhetoritician, the champion fighter or consummate
craftsman) speak, we listen. Trump had Musk and Rogan and Hulk Hogan
and the threat/promise of "the STRONG people" (Bikers, LEO, Soldiers,
Truckers, Cowboys, ... ) while Harris had all the big name
entertainment talent (except Lee Greenwood?) and Academics (except
Dennis Prager and 6 other similar wankers) and the Generals ( who the
rank and file can be taught or reminded to resent) and the intelligencia.
I'm still waiting/hoping/ideating on a better way to achieve collective
emergent "wisdom". Glen's references to the tension between "liberal"
individuality and any of the extant brands of collectivism (party
membership, military marshalling, religious faithing, culting, etc)
gestures in a useful direction. Well formed (if not always understood)
variations on Swarming (nod to Glen and Marcus) in biology are
interesting and maybe the best route in, but I'm still stalled and the
smash into a new era of explicit Trumpism is distracting me, even if it
somehow forces the parallax I'm missing.
Mumble,
- Steve
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