“These [need-for-chaos] individuals are not idealists seeking to tear down the established order so that they can build a better #society for everyone,” the authors wrote in their conclusion. “Rather, they indiscriminately share #hostile#political rumors as a way to unleash #chaos & mobilize individuals against the established order that fails to accord them the respect that they feel they personally deserve.”
Some thoughts to those inclined to take the word of 'respectable' public figures (who are actually authoritarians and even génocidaires), and to those who have grown cynical of all lying politicians:
There used to be a concept called 'leaving hostages to fortune', in which public figures learned to avoid making promises or offering falsehoods that were vulnerable to thwarting/exposure by future contingencies.
Under the assumption that having your lies exposed or rash promise invalidated would be potentially career-ending, it used to sometimes be reasonable to operate on an epistemic criterion of "embarrassment", where we could increase our level of trust in a statement made by a public figure if it (a) wasn't currently able to be confirmed but (b) it seemed obvious that they would get caught out for lying if it were not true. I.e. "They wouldn't lie about that, right?"
However, the information landscape has profoundly shifted in recent years. (Or has seemed to for some people. See below)
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#Putin, #Trump, #Netanyahu, #Modhi and other recent authoritarian strongmen (#Orbán, #Erdoğan, #Bolsonaro, etc) have discovered just how effective the #FirehoseOfDisinformation is in an age of deliberate political dysfunction, polarised electorates, microtargeted #disinformation and the general milieu of ecocidal late capitalist societal crumbling ('the Crumbles'). Their supporters generally either never hear about the debunking, reject all evidence that conflicts with their commitments (#IdentityProtectiveCognition), or don't care and openly embrace #authoritarian doublethink (cf #MAGA, widespread #Israeli support for increased violence in #Gaza, #Russian troll farmers).
We won't have #RCV in all 50 states for the 2024 election. But #CornelWest and #MarianneWilliamson support RCV, and in that sense are at least hinting that they don't want to be spoiler candidates who hand the election to #Republicans. Of course they may be spoiler candidates anyway. But is RFK even hinting that he doesn't want to be a spoiler candidate?
@petersuber 2-things I was supposed learn from being a #Perot voter.
1 Don't vote for wingnut billionaires. Even if you dislike the mainstream candidates. Be Trump-proof. Any Perot voter who became a #Trump voter, failed to learn from the experience.
2 #RankedChoiceVoting is the most important issue on the table in terms of preserving a #Jefferson-ian republic. It negates #cynicism allowing folks to responsibly vote their conscience. Even if it's for #RFKJr#CornelWest or #MarianneWilliamson.
I realized something, I’m not angry, I see things clearly, point and laugh like Diogenes, and for some people “indelible in the hippocampus is the laughter” and they interpret it as anger 🤷🏻♂️
Surprise, surprise #Sunak's #corrupt Govt suggests a tax bribe before the next Election. The #cynicism is breathtaking. Tories have frozen tax thresholds 2 bring lower income people into paying more tax. Nondoms & private schools etc still enjoy tax loopholes. #ToryGaslighting#torysleaze#rejointheEU
“Mass #propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow. The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in #cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.”
― Hannah Arendt, "The Origins of Totalitarianism" #quotes#mediaStudies#commOdon#truth#agnotology#history